TTLE VISITS 

W/W 

ATAMMCANS 




A 




(11/U.X^;^,^,jS<-<^^^^ ^^^^ 



LITTLE VISITS 



"^^^MERIC/INS^ 




\ ^«P 



1003 



EDITED BY 
ORISON SWETT MARDEN 
THE SVCCESS CbMPANY 

N E NC YORK. 



LIBRARY of CONGRESS 
Two Copies Received 

JAN 21 1904 

Copyrignt Entry 
CL^SS a \Xc. No. 



Copyright, 1903 

By 

THE SUCCESS COMPANY 

New York 

A// Rights Reserved 



PREFACE 

"Experience." says the proverb, "is a dear school, 
and none but fools learn therein." The inference is 
that to be wise one must suffer himself to be taught by 
the experience of others; This volume contains the life 
stories, told by themselves, of many successful men and 
women, wdth emphasis on those experiences which to 
them appear to have been the turning points in their 
lives. 

It is not likely that there is anywhere in existence a 
similar collection of heart-to-heart talks with distin- 
guished people of equal value to this. The idea of re- 
questing the leaders in invention, manufacture, trans- 
portation, commerce, finance, in political and public 
life, and in the professions of the ministry, the law, 
literature and art, to bequeath in their own words the 
stories of their lives, their ideals, and the lessons of 
their experience, to the American public, originated 
with Orison Swett Marden, and contributed in no 
small degree to the immediate and remarkable popu- 
larity of Success, in which many of these interviews 
first appeared. The early files of the magazine are 
long since exhausted, but the interest in, and demand 
for, these articles is suflFicient assurance that they are 
of enduring merit, and deserve to be collected in per- 
manent form. 



Preface 

We regard them as a trust. We do not feel that we 
have a right to withhold them from the public. We 
have accordingly fulfilled our obligation by presenting 
them in attractive form, and we are well assured that 
young and old alike who are striving to attain their 
ideals in life will recognize the fact that the highest 
form of self-interest will lead them to read and absorb 
the practical helpfulness contained in these pages. 
Many and varied careers have been selected, so that 
each one may find his ideal of success fulfilled in real 
life, and be aroused to a lofty aspiration and resolute 
determination to achieve like eminence. With Emer- 
son we say, "Hitch your wagon to a star," and, with 
Lowell, "Not failure, but low aim, is crime." 

While for the most part the experiences portrayed in 
this book occurred upon American soil, in several in- 
stances persons born or now living abroad, but promi- 
nently identified with American life, have been in- 
cluded. 

We acknowledge our indebtedness to the publishers 
of the "Literary Digest." of "Collier's Weekly," of the 
"American Review of Reviews," and others who kindly 
loaned valuable photographs for reproduction, and also 
to members of the Success editorial staff for valuable 
assistance in the preparation of this volume. 

The Publishers. 



CONTENTS 

CHAPTER. Page 

INVENTION. 

I. Hard Work, the Secret of a Great Inventor's 

Genius — Thomas Aha Edison 17 

II. A "Down-East" Yankee Who Dictates Peace 

to the Nations — Hiram Stevens Maxim ... 35 

MANUFACTURE. 

III. A Poor Boy Who Once Borrowed Books 

Now Gives Away Libraries — Andrew Car- 
negie 51 

IV. Self-reliance Promoted Him from Ten Dol- 

lars a Month to One Hundred Thousand 

a Year — Charles Michael Schwab 71 

COMMERCE. 

V. Determination Not to Remain Poor Made a 
Farmer Boy Merchant Prince — Marshall 

Field 80 

VI. Honesty the Foundation of a Great Mer- 
chant's Career — John Wanamaker 92 

VII. A British Boy Wins Fortune and Title by 
American Business Methods — Sir Thomas 
Lipton 108 

FINANCE. 

VIII. A Self-made Man Who Strives to Give 

Others a Chance— Dar/w.? Ogden Mills 117 

IX. Thrift, the Secret of a Fortune Built in a 

Single Lifetime— /?M.yj^// Sage 125 

X. Cut Out for a Banker, He Rose from Errand 



3 



Contents 

CHAPT8R ^^^'^ 

Boy to Secretary of the United States 

Treasury — Lyman Judson Gage 131 

XI. A Young Millionaire Not Afraid to Work in 

Overalls— Cor>if/ii<.f VanderhiU 138 

TRAXSPORTATION. 

XII. A Messenger Boy's Zeal Lifts Him to the 
Head of the World's Greatest Telegraph 
Sy^Xtm— Robert C. Clot^'ry 144 

XIII. Enthusiasm for Railroading Makes a Section 

Hand Head of the Metropolitan System — 
Herbert H. J'reeland 152 

L.\B0R. 

XIV. A Factory Boy's Purpose to Improve Labor 

Makes Him a Great Leader— 5a hi m^/ 
Campers 164 

PUBUIC LIFE. 

XV. A Puny Boy. by Physical Culture. Becomes 
the Most Vigorous of American Presi- 
dents — Theodore Roosevelt 173 

XVI. A Brave Volunteer Fights His Way to the 
Head of the American Army — Nelson A. 

Miles 188 

XVII. Making the Most of His Opportunities Wins 

a Coveted Embassy — Joseph H. Choate . . . 196 
X\TII. .\ \'i]lage Boy's Gift of Oratory Earns Him 

Wealth and Fame — Chauucey M. Depeii'. . 207 
XIX. A Chance-Found Book the Turning Point in 
a United States Senator's Career — Jona- 
than P. Dolliver 219 

XX. Varied Business Training the Foundation of 

a Long Political Career — Thomas C. Piatt 225 

4 



Contents 

PAGi 

^"'XXI. A Magnate, the Courage of His Convictions 

.Makes Him a Reformer— 7'o»i L. Johnson 234 

EDUCATION AND LITERATURE. 

XXn A Backwoods Boy Works His Way Through 
College and Becomes University President 

—Jacob Gould Schunnan -'43 

XX in. A "Jack of All Trades" Masters One and 
Becomes the Poet of the FcopW— James 

H'hitcomb Riley ~^~ 

XXIV. A Farm Boy Who Devoured Books Writes 
One of the Greatest Poems of the Century 

—Edivin Markham ^^-^ 

XXV A Famous Authoress Tells Literary Aspirants 
the Story of Her Struggle for Recogni- 
tion— £//a IV heeler Wilcox ^/^ 

XXVI \ Printer's Boy. Self-Taught, Becomes the 
Dean of American Letters-f^i/^iaw Dean 

HozveUs •-•■• ^^^ 

XXVII. A Famous Novelist Atones for Wasted School 
Days bv Self-Culture— G^n^ro/ Lczv n al- 

, ' 296 

lace „ 

XXVIII A Social Leader, Having "Eyes That See. 
Earns Literary Laurels— 1/r^. Burton 
Harrison ■* ' 

ART. 

XXIX. Painstaking the Secret of a Celebrated Paint- 
er's Success— £c(tuw Austin Abbey 3" 

XXX A School Girl, Not Afraid of Drudgery, Be- 
comes America's Foremost Woman Illus- 
iv^ior-Alice Barber Stephens 32i 

XXXI A Schoolboy's Sketches Reveal the Bent of a 

Talented ll!nstrator-Fredi'nV/^rwt»gfo». 32" 

5 



Contents 

CHAPTBft ^^^' 

XXXII. Rebuffs and Disappointments Fail to Repress 
a Great Cartoonist's Genius — Homer" Dav- 
enport 334 

XXXIII. Being Himself in Style and Subjects the Se- 
crets of an Artist's Wonderful Popularity 
— Charles Dana Gibson 342 

<XXIV. A "Printer's Devil" Whose Perseverance 
Wins Him Well-Earned Reputation as a 

Fun-Maker— Frederick Burr Op per 352 

XXXV. "A Square Man in a Round Hole" Rejects 
$5,000 a Year and Becomes a Sculptor— 
F. Wellington Ruckstuhl 358 

XXXVI. During Leisure Hours he "Found Himself" 
and Abandoned Law for Art— Henry Mer- 
win Shrady 366 

AMUSEMENT. 

XXXVII. Deformed in Body, His Cheerful Spirit Makes 

Him the Entertainer of Princes— Mar^/io// 

P. Wilder 37i 

XXXVIII. Energy and Earnestness Win an Actor Fame 

— Richard Mansfield 379 

XXXIX. A Father's Common-Sense Gives America 

a Great Bandmaster — John Philip Sousa. . 384 

PHILANTHROPY. 

XL. Blind, Deaf and Dumb, Patient Effort Wins 
Her Culture and Rare Womanhood — 

Helen Keller 39i 

XLI. Jay Gould's Chum Chooses "High Thinking, 
Not Money-Making," and Wins Success 
Without Riches — John Burroughs 402 



Contents 

Pag« 

^XLlT A Millionaire's Daughter Makes Inherited 
Wealth a Blessing to Thousands— H^/^-w 
Miller Gould • ^13 

XLIII A Self-made Merchant Solves the Problem of 

Practical Philanthropy— Nai/io» Strauss. . 420 

DIVINITY. 

XLIV. A Varied Career Develops the Resourceful 
Head of a Great Institutional Church and 

CoWtge— Russell H. Conwcll 426 

XXLV. An Inspiring Personality Wins a Noted 

Preacher Fzme— Frank W. Gunsaulus. ... 432 
XLVI. From the Forge to the Pulpit, a Life of Devo- 
tion and Application— i^ober^ Collyer 44 1 



INTRODUCTION 

Apelles, the great artist, traveled all over Greece for 
years, studying the fairest points of beautiful women, 
getting here an eye, there a forehead, and there a nose. 
here a grace and there a turn of beauty, for his famous 
portrait of a perfect woman which enchanted the world. 
It was not a portrait, not an imaginary ideal head, but 
a composite, a combination from the most perfect fea- 
tures he could find. By combining the perfect points. 
the graceful curves, the lines of beauty of many individ- 
uals, he made his wonderful painting. 

The great artist knew that all elements of beauty 
and perfection of physical form could not be found in 
one person. He knew, too, that some of the most per- 
fect features and beautiful curves would be found in 
women who were on the whole anything but beautiful — 
perhaps repulsive. 

The editors of this volume have been for many years 
in quest of the elements of a grand, healthy, symmetri- 
cal, successful man — the ideal man. They knew at the 
beginning that it would be impossible to find any one 
jnan who would illustrate all these points of perfection, 
who would combine in perfect degree all the success 
qualities, but they have found in scores of men who 
have achieved something worth while qualities which. 
l)ut together, would make a composite ideal man, a man 

8 



Introduction 

who, in the cvokition of civilization, will, perhaps, 
sometime he possible. Usually, in men who have risen 
to eminence, some one quality or virtue shines con- 
spicuous, often accompanied with defects, perhaps great 
weakness, which, to gain the lesson, we must ignore. 

The editors have found here a man illustrative of 
perseverance, here one marked by undaunted ambition, 
there a life where grit overcame all obstacles, and an- 
other where the quick grasping of opportunities led to 
noble achievement. 

They have interviewed successful men and women 
in the various vocations, trying to get at the secret of 
their success, the reasons for their advancement. These 
varied life stories will give the reader the material 
for constructing the composite character — the ideal 
man or woman — one that shall combine all the best 
virtues and qualities, w^hose imitation will help to insure 
a useful, profitable and honored life. This composite 
man will not be a one-sided specialist. He will not be 
a man cursed with any great weakness. He will be a 
man raised to the highest power, symmetrical, self- 
centered, equipoised, ever master of himself. 

It does not follow that every man whose name ap- 
pears in this book is a model in every respect. Napo- 
leon was not a model character, and yet he exemplifies 
some success qualities in his career in an almost ideal 
degree. 

What question, arising from individual experience. 
from family life, or from daily observation within the 

9 



Introduction 

community, is of more poignant human interest than 
the query : "Why do some men succeed, while others 
tail?" and the allied question: "What constitutes suc- 
cess in life, and how may it be attained?" 

An analysis of the ideals and achievements of these 
leaders in invention, commerce and finance, in public 
alTairs, and in literature, the arts, and the professions, 
as set forth by themselves, seems to reveal certain 
salient life lessons well worthy of most careful con- 
sideration. First, it would appear that without excep- 
tion every successful man or woman at some period of 
his or her life, whether early or late, has formed a life 
purpose, and has registered a solemn vow to achieve 
something more than ordinary in the world. An ex- 
ception to this rule appears to obtain in the cases of 
men or women possessed of a strong natural bent or 
talent, the exercise of which is an instinctive craving 
that will not be denied. This determination to be or 
to achieve, or this instinctive bent of thought and 
action, appears to be the first indication of greatness, 
and the turning point in great careers. 

The next most obvious lesson to be drawn from a 
careful study of these interviews seems to be, that once 
a determination to succeed is made, and the first steps, 
however humble, have been entered upon in the new 
career, the subject commences to take an interest 
amounting to positive pleasure in the tasks and duties 
incident to his chosen life work. 

The far-away goal of success, with its reward of 

lo 



Introduction 

fame, wealth, and all that money can procure, appears 
to fade from the worker's sight as he advances toward 
it, and the incitement to labor for material reward is 
lost in the joy of congenial labor for its own sake. 
The player loses sight of the hope of victory in the 
mere zest of the game. This note appears again and 
again in the life stories of great workers as revealed by 
themselves, and accounts for the spectacle, so puzzling 
to many, of the master of millions apparently grasping 
for more millions in his declining years. There can be 
no content with present achievement, however great, 
because all who have achieved great things have dis- 
covered that the ends sought are lost in the value of the 
faculties developed by the search, and they hence seek, 
not additional reward of toil, but rather the pleas- 
urable exercise of the chase. The joy of labor will not 
permit men to lay down the harness and relinquish 
effort this side the grave. 

A determination to succeed once formed, and a con- 
genial career once chosen and entered upon, there com- 
mences a process of character-building by the forma- 
tion of life habits. These solidify into personal char- 
acteristics, the varying assortment of which in the 
individual constitutes what we call his personality, 
wherein one man differs from another. Character, it 
has been w^isely said, is the resultant of choices. It 
appears again and again in the reminiscences of those 
who have succeeded, that from time to time they have 
deliberately chosen a course of action which by force 

11 



Introduction 

of habit has become a personal characteristic, and has 
earned them national, if not world-wide, reputation. 
The name of "Honest" John Wanamaker stands for a 
reputation having a commercial value of hundreds of 
thousands of dollars. The acorn from which grew 
this mighty oak was a young man's choice of honesty 
as the foundation of his career. 

Books and essays by the score and hundred have been 
written by theorists upon the principles of success in 
life. Worthy as are many of the writers, their lives 
often illustrate the adage of the poet. "It were easier 
to tell twenty what were good to be done than to be 
one of the twenty to follow mine own teachings." 
Boldly contrasted with such writings are the flesh and 
blood maxims herein contained, stamped with the mint 
marks of great personalities, towering mountainous 
among their fellows, each coined from the life habits 
..hich have hardened into enduring character, and have 
left their impress upon the history of our times. 

In a drawing-room or public assemblage he would 
indeed be unambitious and mean-spirited, who would 
not choose the company and conversation of the great- 
est and the best. As Carlyle says. "Great men take up 
in any way are profitable company." What privilege 
could promise equal pleasure and profit with a series 
of visits at the homes of the most notable personages 
our land contains, to consult with each on the great 
questions of success or failure, of what constitutes idc.-^l 
success, and of how it may he attained? 

12 



Introduction 

Such is the privilege contemplated by this volume 
and freely offered to all who choose to avail themselves 
of it. Compared with the inspiration, the examples 
and the wise counsel contained within its covers, the 
cost of such a volume sinks into insignificance. Benja- 
min Franklin said that the reading of one good book 
made him what he was. Henry Clay testified, "to the 
fact that in the midst of her early poverty my mother 
provided her home with a few choice books, do I owe 
my success in Hfe." Senator Dolliver, in the present 
volume, regards a chance-found book as the turning 
point of his career, and like testimony is all but uni- 
versal. Let the young and the guardians of youth 
weigh well the thought that there are sins of omission, 
as well as of commission, and that it may be hardly a 
less criminal negligence to refuse fit books for the 
growing mind than food for the growing body. 

Quite aside from considerations of profit and duty 
are the considerations of pleasure offered by a volume 
of this character. It is a truism that truth is stranger 
than fiction. The romance of reality is the most thrill- 
ing of all romances, and there is a peculiar fascination 
associated with those glimpses of the inner man which 
are revealed by a speaker who sets forth his own life 
story, and places his own interpretation upon it. From 
this view point, '"Little Visits" possesses a wealth of 
suggestion and of information, alike valuable and inter- 
esting to readers of all ages and of every walk in life, 

'4 



\/ 



•Introduction 

The dominant note of this book, is inspiration; its 
keynote, helpfulness. 

We have tried to drive home every precept and les- 
son with stirring and inspiring stories of great lives 
which show that men and women are the architects of 
their own fortunes, and which will explode the excuses 
of those who think they have no chance in life. It 
shows that necessity has ever been the priceless spur 
that has urged man to struggle with his destiny and 
develop his greatest strength. 

We think the reader will find in these pages the com- 
posite character, the all-round success. We have tried 
to show that there is something better than making a 
living, and that is making a life — that a man may make 
millions and be a failure still. 

We have shown that a man to succeed must be 
greater than his calling, that he must overtop his voca- 
tion. We have tried to teach that the really successful 
man must be greater than the book he writes, than the 
patient he treats, than the goods he sells, than the cause 
he pleads in the courts — that manhood is above all 
titles, greater than any career. 

The Editor, 



H 



BOOK ONE 

INSPIRATIONAL TALKS 

WITH FAMOUS AMERICANS. 



Succes Maxims 

The tissue of the life to be 

We weave with colors all our own, 

And in the field of destiny 

We reap as we have sown. 

— Whittier. 

No man is born into this world whose work is not born 
with him.— Lowell. 

If a man can write a better book, preach a better sermon, 
or make a better mousetrap than his neighbor, though he build 
his house in the woods, the world will make a beaten path to 
his door.— Emerson. 

Character is power — is influence; it makes friends, cre- 
ates funds, draws patronage and support, and opens a sure and 
easy way to wealth, honor and happiness. — J. Hawes. 

To be thrown upon one's own resources is to be cast into 
the very lap of fortune. — Franklin. 

There is no road to success but through a clear, strong 
purpose. A purpose underlies character, culture, position, at- 
tainment of whatever sort. — T. T. Munger. 

Heaven never helps the man who will not act. — Sophocles. 

The talent of success is nothing more than doing what you 
can do well, and doing well whatever you do, without a 
thought of fame.— Longfellow. 

The longer I live, the more deeply am I convinced that 
that which makes the difference between one man and another 
— between the weak and powerful, the great and insignificant, 
is energy — invincible determination — a purpose once formed, 
and then death or victor}'. — Fowell Buxton. 

In the measure in which thou seekest to do thy duty shalt 
thou know what is in thee. But what is thy duty? The de- 
mand of the hour. — Goethe. 

A strong, defiant purpose is many-handed, and lays hold 
of whatever is near that can serve it ; it has a magnetic power 
that draws to itself whatever is kindred.— T T. Hunger. 

16 



I 

Hard Work : the Secret of a Great 
Inventor's Genius. 

To discover the opinion of Thomas A. Edison 
concerning what makes and constitutes success 
in Hfe is an easy matter, if one can only dis- 
cover Mr. Edison. I camped three weeks in 
the vicinity of Orange, X. J., awaiting the opportunity 
to come upon the great inventor and voice my ques- 
tions. It seemed a rather hopeless and discouraging 
afTair until he was really before me ; but, truth to say, 
he is one of the most accessible of men, and only reluc- 
tantly allows himself to be hedged in by the pressure of 
endless affairs. "Mr. Edison is always glad to see any 
visitor," said a gentleman who is constantly with him, 
"except when he is hot on the trail of something he has 
been working for, and then it is as much as a man's 
head is worth to come in on him." He certainly was 
not hot on the trail of anything on the morning when, 
for seemingly the tenth time, I rang at the gate in the 
fence which surrounds the laboratory on \"alley Road, 
Orange. A voung man appeared, who conducted me 
up the walk to the elegant office and library of the 
great laboratory. Tt is a place, this library, not to be 
passed through without thought, for with a further 

17 



Thomas Alva Edison 

store of volumes in his home, it contains one of tlie 
most costly and well-equipped scientific libraries in the 
world ; the collection of writings on patent laws and 
patents, for instance, is absolutely exhaustive. It gives, 
at a glance, an idea of the breadth of the thought and 
sympathy of this man who grew up with scarcely a 
common school education. 

On the second floor, in one of the offices of the 
machine-shop, I was asked to wait, while a grimy 
youth disappeared with my card, which he said he 
would "slip under the door of Mr. Edison's office." 
"Curious," I thought ; "what a lord this man must be 
if they dare not even knock at his door !" 

Thinking of this and gazing out of the window. I 
waited until a working man, who had entered softly, 
came up beside me. He looked with a sort of "Well, 
what is it?" in his eyes, and quickly it began to come to 
me that the man in the sooty, oil-stained clothes was 
Edison himself. The working garb seemed rather in- 
congruous, but there was no mistaking the broad fore- 
head, with its shock of blackish hair streaked with gray. 
The gray eyes, too, were revelations in the way of alert 
comprehensiveness. 

"Oh !" was all I could get out at the time. 

"Want to see me?" he said, smiling in the most 
youthful and genial way. 

"Why, — yes, certainly, to be sure." I stammered. 

He looked at me blankly. 

'"You'll have to talk louder," said an assistant who 

18 



The "Wizard of Electricity " 

worked in another portion of the room ; "he don't hear 
well." 

HIS GRANDFATHER WAS A BANKER. 

This fact was new to me, but I raised my voice with 
celerity and piped thereafter in an exceedingly shrill 
key. After the usual humdrum opening remarks, in 
which he acknowledged wuth extreme good nature his 
age as fifty-five years, and that he was born in Erie 
county, O., of Dutch parentage, the family having emi- 
grated to America in 1730, the particulars began to 
grow more interesting. His great-grandfather, I learn- 
ed, was a banker of high standing in New York ; and, 
when Thomas was but a child of seven years, the family 
fortune suffered reverses so serious as to make it neces- 
sary that he should become a wage-earner at an un- 
usually early age, and that the family should move from 
his birth-place to Michigan. 

"Did you enjoy mathematics as a boy?" I asked. 

"Not much," he replied. "I tried to read Newton's 
'Principia' at the age of eleven. That disgusted me 
with pure mathematics, and I don't wonder now. I 
should not have been allowed to take up such serious 
work." 

"You were anxious to learn ?" 

"Yes, indeed. I attempted to read through the entire 
Free Library at Detroit, but other things interfered 
before I had done." 

19 



Thomas Alva Edison 

"Were you a book-worm and dreamer?" I ques- 
tioned. 

"Xot at all." he answered, using a short, jerky 
method, as though he were unconsciously ch.ccking 
liimsclf up. "I became a newsboy, and liked the work. 
Made my first coup as a newsboy. 

"What w^as it!*" T ventured. 

"I bought up on 'futures' a thousand copies of the 
'Detroit Free Press' containing important war news, — 
gained a little time on my rivals, and sold the entire 
batch like hot cakes. The price reached twenty-five 
cents a copy before the end of the route," and he 
laughed. "T ran the 'Grand Trunk Herald,' too, at that 
time — a little paper T issued from the train." 

lilS FIRST EXPERIMENTS. 

''When did you begin to be interested in inventions ?" 
I questioned. 

"Well," he said, "I began to dabble in chemistry at 
that time. I fitted up a small laboratory on the train." 

In reference to this, Mr. Edison subsequently ad- 
mitted that, during the progress of some occult experi- 
ments in this workshop, certain complications ensued 
in which a jolted and broken bottle of sulphuric acid 
attracted the attention of the conductor. He, who had 
been long suffering in the matter of unearthly odors, 
promptly ejected the young devotee and all his works. 
This incident would have been only amusing but for 
its relation to and explanation of his deafness. A box 

20 



The "Wizard of Electricity " 

on the ear, administered by the irate conductor, caused 
tlie lasting deafness. 

"What was your first work in a practical line?" I 
went on. 

"A telegraph line between my home and another 
boy's, I made with the help of an old river cable, some 
stove-pipe wire, and glass-bottle insulators. I had my 
laboratory in the cellar and studied telegraphy outside." 

•'What was the first really important thing you did?" 

"I saved a boy's life." 

"How?" 

"The boy was playing on the track near the depot. T 
saw he was in danger and caught him, getting out of 
the way just in time. His father was station-master, 
and taught me telegraphy in return." 

Dramatic situations appear at every turn of this man's 
life, though, temperamentally, it is evident that he 
would be the last to seek them. He seems to have been 
continually arriving on the scene at critical moments, 
and always with the good sense to take things in his 
own hands. The chance of learning telegraphy onl\- 
gave him a chance to show how apt a pupil he was, and 
the railroad company soon gave him regular employ- 
ment. He himself admits that, at seventeen, he had 
become one of the most expert operators on the road. 

"Did you make much use of your inventive talent at 
this time?" I questioned. 

"Yes," he answered. "T invented an automatic at- 
tachment for my telegraph instrument which would 

21 



Thomas Alva Edison 

send in the signal to show I was awake at my post, 
when I was comfortably snoring in a corner. I didn't 
do much of that, though," he went on ; ''for some such 
boyish trick sent me in disgrace over the line into 
Canada." 

A NOVEL METHOD OF TELEGRAPHING. 

"Were you there long?" 

"Only a winter. If it's incident you w^ant, I can tell 
you one of that time. The place where I was and 
Sarnia, the American town, were cut off from tele- 
graph and other means of communication by the storms 
until I got at a locomotive w'histle and tooted a tele- 
graphic message. I had to do it again and again, but 
eventually they understood it over the water and an- 
swered in the same way." 

According to his own and various recorded accounts, 
Edison was successively in charge of important wires 
in Memphis, Cincinnati, New Orleans and Louisville. 
He lived in the free-and-easy atmosphere of the tramp 
operators — a boon companion with them, yet absolutely 
refusing to join in the dissipations to which they were 
addicted. So highly esteemed was he for his honesty 
that it was the custom of his colleagues, when a spree 
was on hand, to make him the custodian of those funds 
which they felt obliged to save. On a more than usually 
hilarious occasion, one of them returned rather the 
worse for wear, and knocked the treasurer down on his 
refusal to deliver the trust money ; the other depositors, 

22 



The *• Wizard of Electricity" 

we are glad to note, gave the ungentlemanly tippler 
a sound thrashing. 

"Were you good at saving your own money?" I 
asked. 

"No," he said, smiling. "I never was much for sav- 
ing money, as money. I devoted every cent, regardless 
of future needs, to scientific books and materials for 
experiments." 

"You believe that an excellent way to succeed?" 

"Well, it helped me greatly to future success." 

"What was your next invention?" I inquired. 

"An automatic telegraph recorder — a machine which 
enabled me to record dispatches at leisure, and send 
them off as fast as needed." 

"How did you come to hit upon that ?" 

"Well, at the time, I was in such straits that I had to 
walk from Memphis to Louisville. At the Louisville 
station they offered me a place, I had perfected a style 
of handwriting which would allow me to take legibly 
from the wire, long hand, forty-seven and even fifty- 
four words a minute, but I was only a moderately rapid 
sender. I had to do something to help me on that side, 
and so I thought out that little device." 

Later, he pointed out an article by one of his biog- 
raphers, in which a paragraph, referring to this Louis- 
ville period, says : — 

"True to his dominant instincts, he was not long in 
gathering around him a laboratory, printing office and 
machine shop. He took press reports during his whole 

23 



Thomas Alva Edison 

stay, including, on one occasion, the Presidential mes- 
sage, by Andrew Johnson, and this at one sitting, from 
3 :30 p. M. to 4 :30 a. m. 

"He then paragraphed the matter he had received 
over the wires, so that printers had exactly three lines 
each, thus enabling them to set up a column in two or 
three minutes' time. For this, he was allowed all the 
exchanges he desired, and the Louisville press gave 
him a state dinner." 

"How did you manage to attract public attention to 
your ability?" I questioned. 

"I didn't manage," said the Wizard. "Some things 
I did created comment. A device that I invented whicli 
utilized one submarine cable for two circuits, caused 
considerable talk, and the Franklin telegraph office of 
Boston gave me a position." 

It is related of this, ]\Ir. Edison's first trip east, that 
he came with no ready money and in a rather dilapi- 
dated condition. His colleagues were tempted by his 
"hayseed" appearance to "salt" him, as professional 
slang terms the process of giving a receiver matter 
faster than he can record it. For this purpose, the new 
man was assigned to a wire manipulated by a New 
York operator famous for his speed. But there was no 
fun at all. Notwithstanding the fact that the New 
Yorker was in the game and was doing his most speedy 
clip, Edison wrote out the long message accurately, and, 
when he realized the situation, was soon firing taunts 
over the wire at the sender's slowness. 

H 



The ''Wizard of Electricity " 

HIS FIRST PATENT. 

-Had you patented many things up to the time of 
vour coming east?" I queried. 

••Xothing," said the inventor, ruminatively. "I re- 
ceived my first patent in 1869." 
•'For what^" 

•'A machine for recording votes and designed to be 
used in the State Legislature." 

"I didn't know such machines were in use," I ven- 
tured. 

••They ar'n't," he answered, with a merry twmkle. 
"The better it worked, the more impossible it was ; the 
sacred right of the minority, you know,— couldn't fili- 
buster if they used it,— didn't use it." 
"Oh!" 

••Yes, it was an ingenious thing Votes were clearly 
pointed and shown on a roll of paper, by a small 
machine attached to the desk of each member. I was 
made to learn that such an innovation was out of the 
question, but it taught me something." 
"And that was?" 

"To be sure of the practical need of, and demand for, 
a machine, before expending time and energy on it." 
"Is that one of your maxims of success?" 
"It is." 

In this same year, Edison came from Boston to New 
York, friendless and in debt on account of the expenses 
of his experiment. For several weeks he wandered 
about the town with actual hunger staring him in the 

25 



Thomas Alva Edison 

face. It was a time of great financial excitement, and 
with that strange quahty of Fortunism, which seems to 
be his chief characteristic, he entered the estabHshment 
of the Law Gold Reporting Company just as their 
i-ntirc plant had shut down on account of an accident 
in the machinery that could not be located. The heads 
of the firm were anxious and excited to the last degree, 
and a crowd of the Wall street fraternity waited about 
for the news which came not. The shabby stranger put 
his finger on the difficulty at once, and was given lucra- 
tive employment. In the rush of the metropolis, a man 
finds his true level without delay, especially when his 
talents are of so practical and brilliant a nature as were 
this young telegrapher's. It would be an absurdity to 
imagine an Edison hidden in New York. Within a 
short time, he was presented with a check for $10,000, 
as his share of a single invention — an improved stock 
printer. From this time, a national reputation was 
assured him. He was, too, now engaged upon the 
duplex and quadruplex systems — systems for sending 
two and four messages at the same time over a single 
wire, — which were to inaugurate almost a new era in 
telegraphy. 

POVERTY AS AX INCENTIVE TO EFFORT. 

Recalling the incident of the Law Gold Reporting 
Company, I inquired : "Do you believe want urges a 
man to greater efforts and so to greater success ?" 

"It certainly makes him keep a sharp lookout. I 
♦hink it docs push a man along." 

26 



The "Wiz;ird ot Electricity" 

"Do you believe that invention is a gift, or an 
acquired ability?" 

"I think it's born in a man." 

"And don't you believe that familiarity with certain 
mechanical conditions and defects naturally suggest 
improvements to any one?" 

"No. Some people may be perfectly familiar with a 
machine all their days, knowing it inefficient, and never 
see a way to improve it." 

"What do you think is the first requisite for success 
in your field, or any other?" 

"The ability to apply your physical and mental 
energies to one problem incessantly without growing 
weary." 

"Do you have regular hours, Mr. Edison?" I asked. 

"Oh," he said, "I do not work hard now. I come to 

the laboratory about eight o'clock every day and go 

home to tea at six, and then I study or work on some 

problem until eleven, which is my hour for bed," 

"Fourteen or fifteen hours a day can scarcely be 
called loafing," I suggested. 

"Well," he replied, "for fifteen years I have worked 
on an average of twenty hours a day." 

That astonishing brain has been known to puzzle 
itself for sixty consecutive hours over a refractory prob- 
lem, its owner dropping quietly off into a long sleep 
when the job was done, to awake perfectly refreshed 
and ready for another siege. Mr. Dickson, a neighbor 
and familiar, gives an anecdote told by Edison which 

27 



Thomas Alva Edison 

well illustrates iiis untiring energy and phenomenal en- 
durance. In describing his Boston experience, Edison 
said he bought Faraday's works on electricity, com- 
menced to read them at three o'clock in the morning 
and continued until his room-mate arose, when they 
started on their long walk to get breakfast. That object 
was entirely subordinated in Edison's mind to Faraday. 
and he suddenly remarked to his friend: "Adams. I 
have got so much to do, and life is so short, that I have 
got to hustle," and with that he started off on a dead 
run for his breakfast. 

XEVER DID ANYTHING WORTH WHILE BY CHANCE. 

"Are your discoveries often brilliant intuitions? Do 
they come to you while you are lying awake nights?" I 
asked him. 

"I never did anything worth doing by accident," he 
replied, "nor did any of my inventions come indirectly- 
through accident, except the phonograph. No. when I 
have fully (kcided that a result is worth getting. I go 
about it, and make trial after trial, until it comes. 

"I have always kept," continued Mr. Edison, "strictly 
witbin the lines of commercially useful inventions. I 
have never bad any time to put on electrical wonders, 
valuable only as novelties to catch the popular fancy." 

"What makes you work?" I asked with real curi- 
osity. "What impels you to this constant, tireless strug- 
gle? You have shown that you care comparatively 
nntbing for tiie money it makes you, and you have no 

28 



The "Wizard of Electricity" 

particular entliusiasm for the attending fame. What 
is it?" 

"I Hke it," he answered, after a moment of puzzled 
expression. "I don't know any other reason. Any- 
thing I have begun is always on my mind, and I am not 
easy while away from it, until it is finished ; and then 
I hate it." 

"Hate it?" I said. 

"Yes," he affirmed, "when it is all done and is a suc- 
cess, I can't bear the sight of it. I haven't used a tele- 
phone in ten years, and I would go out of my way any 
day to miss an incandescent light." 

"You lay down rather severe rules for one who 
wishes to succeed in life," I ventured, "working eigh- 
teen hours a day." 

"Not at all," he said. "You do something all day 
long, don't you? Every one does. If you get up at 
seven o'clock and go to bed at eleven, you have put in 
sixteen good hours, and it is certain with most men 
that they have been doing something all the time. They 
have been either walking, or reading, or writing, or 
thinking. The only trouble is that they do it about a 
great many things and I do it about one. If they took 
the time in question and applied it in one direction, to 
one object, they would succeed. Success is sure to fol- 
low such application. The trouble lies in the fact that 
people do not have an object — one thing to which they 
stick, letting all else go." 

29 



Thomas Alva Edison 

OPPORTUNITIES FOR FUTURE INVENTORS. 

"You believe, of course," I suggested, "that much 
remains to be discovered in the realm of electricity?" 

"It is the field of fields," he answered. "We can't 
talk of that, but it holds the secret which will reorgan- 
ize the life of the world." 

"You have discovered much about it," I said, smil- 
ing. 

"Yes," he said, "and yet very little in comparison 
with the possibilities that appear." 

"How many inventions have you patented?" 

"Only six hundred," he answered, "but I have made 
application for some three hundred more." 

"And do you expect to retire soon, after all this?" 

"I hope not," he said, almost pathetically. "I hope I 
will be able to work right on to the close. I shouldn't 
care to loaf." 

Shouldn't care to loaf ! What a thought after fifty- 
two years of such magnificent achievement. 

THE WIZARD AT HOME. 

While the inventions of Thomas A. Edison keep him 
constantly in the public eye, as a man in private life he 
is comparatively unknown. If you should see him in 
his laboratory, buried deep in work, surrounded by bat- 
talions of machines and hosts of experimental ap- 
pliances, dressed in his "shop clothes" spotted with 
chemicals, you would never suspect that, just seven 
bundrcd feet away, a palatial home awaits him. 

30 



The "Wizard of Electricity" 

Ten years ago he was an undomesticated man. His 
workshop and his chemical laboratory held such pow- 
erful sway over his mind that he was only supremely 
happy when "up to his eyes" in work. Gradually, 
almost insidiously, the "wizard" has been weaned away 
from the weaving of his spells, and now a new and 
more potent power than ever before controlled him has 
gained its mastery over him. This is the power of love. 
Though the great inventor even now works as few men 
of his age and accomplishments are in the habit of 
doing, the last few years have seen a steady relaxation 
of his toil. The time has passed when he was wont to 
lock himself in a room and work sixty hours at a stretch 
without taking more than an hour's sleep at various 
intervals in that time. 

MRS. EDISON IS ALSO AN INVENTOR OF GOOD ABILITY. 

When jMr. Edison toils now, there is one who shares 
his labors with him. It is Mrs. Edison, his second 
wife. She is the daughter of John Miller, who invented 
the famous Miller mowing machine, and inherits a 
great deal of inventive ability. It is through this addi- 
tional bond of genius that they are united. She is a 
helpmeet in the true sense of the word. It is said that 
they are now working on an invention which they will 
patent jointly. 

Whether Mrs. Edison intends to participate in one 
of her husband's inventions or not, she takes more than 
passing interest in all of his affairs, and has acquired, 

31 



Thomas Alva Edison 

through her association with him. a vast amount of 
electrical and mechanical knowledge. When ]Mr. Edi- 
son met Miss Miller, twelve years ago, he was at the 
beginning of his fame. It was one of the most in- 
tensely busy periods of his career, his work engaging 
nearly every moment of his time. 

The days of complete absorption in work have passed 
for him. His home-life has become necessary to him. 
Though he has had" one or two relapses of "working 
fever," — when he steadfastly refused to be moved from 
the laboratory by Mrs. Edison's persuasions, — he has 
reached the period when he is glad to go to his home. 
Much honor is due to the woman who has wrought so 
marvelous a change in her husband. Those who knew 
Mr. Edison best predicted that his present wife would 
soon become a secondary consideration in his life. The}- 
are. from all accounts, mistaken. 

The Edison home is one of the finest residences in 
Xew Jersey, and is furnished with all the conveniences 
and luxuries of a modern palace. It bears evidence of 
Mrs. Edison's true taste and skillful management. The 
lower floor of the house is laid out in parlors, conserva- 
tories, and a magnificent dining room. Ponderous 
chandeliers bristling with electric-light bulbs hang from 
ceilings finished in open-work beams, exhibiting the best 
art of the builder. Mr. Edison has a fine library in his 
residence, though it does not contain so many scientific 
works as the library at his laboratory. 

The upper floors are given up to sleeping rooms, and 

32 



The "Wizard of Electricity" 

a special "den"' for Mr. Edison. There he works out 
his plans, and has at hand the reference books he de- 
sires in chemistry, physics, heat, light, and electricity. 

RISES EARLY AND WORKS LONG. 

He is an early riser, and is ready for work at half- 
past six o'clock. His first daily occupation is to read 
the newspapers. He is anxious to know if the reporters 
who interviewed him wrote just what he said, for he 
dislikes, above all else, newspaper interviews that are 
not correct. He does not like to be misquoted, and is 
willing to go to any amount of trouble in order that his 
statements shall be reported without error. No matter 
how busily he may be engaged at the laboratory he will 
stop to look over an interview, and no one is more will- 
ing than he is to set a reporter right. 

At half-past seven in the morning Mr. Edison starts 
for the laboratory. He usually walks, as the distance 
is short, and his physicians have ordered that he must 
take a certain amount of physical exercise every day. 
When he reaches the laboratory, he begins with a great 
rush, and starts men on certain phases of work which 
he planned the previous day. He usually has from fifty 
to seventy-five subjects on which he puts men to work. 
These subjects he prepares at home, betw^een the time 
when he leaves the laboratory, half-past six, and mid- 
night. 

Every afternoon Mrs. Edison calls for her husband 

33 



Thomas Alva Edison 

at the laboratory, and takes him away in her carriage, 
and they drive about the beautiful district of the 
Oranges. 

Mrs. Edison has undertaken the task of keeping the 
inventor healthy. She will not permit him to neglect 
his meals, or to work more than she thinks is good for 
him. She insists that he shall leave the laboratory at a 
certain hour each night, and she undertakes to person- 
ally see that he does so. At times, Mr. Edison objects, 
but in a very mild way, to this regime. Not long ago, 
he was deeply engaged in a certain experiment, when 
Mrs. Edison called for him and insisted upon taking 
him home. After some resistance, he at last consented, 
saying, however, by way of a final protest, as he stepped 
into the carriage : — 

"Billy (his pet name for Mrs. Edison), "you're a 
nuisance." 

Were it not, however, for the saving influence which 
Mrs. Edison exercises over her husband, it is doubtful 
if he would accomplish so much. 



II 

/\ ^' Down-east " Yankee who Dic- 
tates Peace to the Nations. 

HIRAM STEVENS MAXIM is a gunmaker 
and peacemaker, and to-day the terms are 
s}nonymous. 

Two armed men. although hostile, will hesi- 
tate to attack one another ; each will be careful to make 
no false move, lest the other's hand fly to his pistol 
pocket. Neither knows the other's equipment for 
aggression or defense. So both w'ill smile and smile, 
and continue to hate. 

It is often thus with nations. 

When I asked Mr. Maxim how one feels to be in the 
business of making tnachines of war, — machines for 
killing men by the brigade, so to speak, he replied : — 

"Men of my profession do more to keep peace on 
earth than all the churches of Christendom. They beg 
for peace, — we compel it." 

Almost all famous men have two sides : the one is 
seen by the world, which never really sees the man at 
all, and is cold and glazed and more or less character- 
less, — being wholly intellectual. The other is the w^arm 
human side, full of points of strength and lovable weak- 
nes.ses. 

35 



Hiram Stevens Maxim 

THE MAN WHOSE GUNS WILL CLEAR A JUNGLE. 

Hiram S. Maxim is of this type. Mention his name 
lo your neighbor, and he will say : "Oh, yes ! Maxim, 
—he's the inventor of the rapid-fire gun, the flying 
machine, and smokeless powder, and a lot of other 
things." That's all he knows about him, and, very 
likely, it's all he cares. But the name Maxim is of tre- 
mendous import to every nation in the world; it is 
liable to have a potential influence in changing some c*' 
their boundaries, too. China had a good supply of 
rapid-fire guns when the war broke out between her and 
Japan, but the brass parts had all been stolen by traitor- 
ous Celestials, and the instruments left unfit for use. 
Otherwise, the results might have been different, — who 
can tell ? 

Ask the British Government how many British lives 
and how much British money was saved by the rapid- 
fire guns in South Africa. Also ask the "blacks" what 
they think of one of them. They call it "Johnny pop, — 
pop, — pop." But these guns w^ere small afifairs. Re- 
member what their big brothers did for us at Santiago 
and ^lanila. T am told that they lashed the surface of 
the ocean into foam. 

But let us look at the man as the public sees him. 

Weigh the significance of his list of titles : Chevalier 
of the Legion of Honor, member of the American So- 
ciety of Civil Engineers, honorary member of the 
Bridgeport Scientific Society, member of the Royal 

36 



Gunnicik.cr and Peacemaker 

Society of Arts, of the English Society of Mechanical 
Engineers, of the English Society of Electrical Engi- 
neers, of the English Society of Junior Engineers, of 
the British Association for the Advancement of Science, 
of the British Empire League, of the Decimal Society, 
of the British .^ronautical Society, of the London 
Chamber of Commerce, and also recipient of decora- 
tions from the Emperor of China and several European 
sovereigns. 

HIS BRAIN IS BUILT UP OF INVENTIVE CELLS. 

Mr. Maxim was the first man in the world to make 
an automatic gun ; that is, a gun that loads and fires 
itself by its own reactionary force. He was also the 
first to combine gun-cotton and nitro-glycerine in a 
smokeless powder. The practicability of his flying 
machine is yet to be proved. 

Such is Maxim, the ghost of whose presence appears 
to bellicose rulers and bids them halt, — and they do 
halt. It is said that the British Government and Hiram 
S. Maxim are two of the world's most powerful influ- 
ences for peace. 

Next consider the human being, — the big, brown- 
eyed, white-bearded man, fifty or sixty years voung, — - 
for he was born in Maine, in 1840. 

He seems to me to be a man with two ambitions: 
primarily, to keep on inventing, and, secondarily, to be 
the most famous inventor of all ages. His intellect and 
energy demand progress, his vanity demands fame. 

37 



Hiram Stevens Maxim 

He doesn't appear to care for money, save as a means 
to a desired end. His personality might be considered 
unbalanced. His sense of self-suppression does not 
correspond with his fairly colossal intellect. The char- 
acter of his intellectuality is uniform. The philosophi- 
cal rather than the scholarly instinct dominates it. An- 
other evidence of his quality of humanity is his sensi- 
tiveness to unfair censure. "I don't fear truthful criti- 
cism." he once said: '"misrepresentation is what hurts." 
It is difficult for one who knows him to imagine any- 
thing which he could not master. I once asked him the 
question, and he said he believed he would have suc- 
ceeded at anything, except as a clergyman or a physi- 
cian ; that his religious views would preclude the for- 
mer, and that he had a distaste for the latter. 

BITING OFF THE DOG's TAIL. 

At the age of fourteen young Maxim left school, and 
became apprenticed to a carriage-builder, although he 
had previously learned the use of tools in his father's 
mill. He was a stockily built lad, and was noted for 
his physical strength and daring. His father was not 
an ardent advocate of "turn the other cheek" policy. 
On the contrary, he used to say : "If any one assails 
you, sail into him." Once Hiram's father promised to 
bring him a present if he would be good. The little 
fellow, then six years old, looked fonvard to the fulfill- 
ment with impatience. At length, the elder Maxim, 
returning from the village, brought a puppy as a play- 

38 



Gunmaker and Peacemaker 

mate for his little son. Hiram regarded the animal with 
amazement for a few moments; then, burstmg into 
tears he rushed to hide his face in his mother's lap. 
excla'iming : "I am afraid of it, it looks so much like a 
dog" The two finally became great friends. One day 
the dog bit Hiram, and the lad asked his father what 
he ought to do under the circumstances. "Bite him 
back," was the verdict. In pursuit of this suggestion, 
the lid examined the dog and concluded that the end 
of his tail was about the most vulnerable point. Ac- 
cordingly, he took that member between his teeth and 
began to put on pressure, raising the dog from the 
ground, in order to swing him once or twice. All the 
while the lad had tears in his eyes, for he loved his little 
play-fellow; but, with true Puritanical instinct, he 
deemed the chastisement just and necessary-. The dog, 
however, did not join him in this view of the matter. 
and, in an attempt to escape, carried away one of hi? 
young master's upper front teeth. It is also said that 
one of Hiram's young brothers, in pursuit of this poiicy 
of retaliation, almost decapitated the family goose, 
which they were saving up for Christmas, which had 
savagely attacked the calf of the youngster's leg. 

It is easier to give Mr. Maxim's manner of speech 
than his manner of speaking. He has wonderful brown 
ej^es,— verv honest eyes,— that stare at you inquinngly 
as he talks', and an extremely gentle voice of an almost 
hvpnotic qualit\-,— ver>- attractive and soothing. Mar- 
velously quick-witted himself, he has little patience with 

39 



Hiiam Stevens Maxim 

dullness in others. His power of explanation, too, is 
very great. He always uses language and methods 
according to the understanding of the listener. With a 
scientific man, he employs forms of speech that convey 
much in little, while to the ordinary layman he ex- 
presses himself in popular English. 

"To what do you attribute your early success ?" Mr. 
Maxim was asked. 

"In the first place. 1 was a very large and strong 
boy, and, no matter where I worked, I always succeeded 
in doing more than any other man or boy in the shop. 
I was never absent from work or school." 

pat'.s .\xxietv to try "the boss/' and its result. 

The development of his physical strength kept pace 
with that of his intellect. When he was thirty-five, he 
was manager of a large manufactory in Brooklyn. One 
day a herculean Irishman, who had long been ambitious 
to have a trial of strength with "the boss," asked the 
latter how it was that the Irish were so much stronger 
than the Americans. 

"How much can you lift?" asked i\Ir. Maxim, quietly. 

"Six hundred pounds," replied Pat. 

"And how much do you weigh?" 

"Two hundred pounds." 

"Well," baid Maxim. "I will lift you and your load 
together," and he did it. 

40 



Gunmaker and Peacemaker 

now THE MAINE "BACK^^■OODS^^.\x" CAPTURED A Ron- 



On another occasion, while taking lunch at a railroad 
station in France, Mr. Maxim recognized a notorious 
confidence man who had, years before, robbed him in 
Paris. The fellow, seeing that he was detected, tried 
to escape by leaping upon a moving train. Maxim fol- 
lowed and a fierce struggle ensued on the footboard of 
the coach, while the train was running at a high speed. 
Maxim had to fight both the fellow and his comrades, 
but he subjugated his man. The train was brought to 
a standstill, and the victor marched his prisoner back 
over the ties to the station, delivering him to the 
authorities, and subsequently had the satisfaction of 
seeing him sentenced to several years at hard labor. 
This was one result of the backwoods training in 
Maine. 

"Whatever jol:) I was at." Mr. Maxim told me, "I 
used to work at and think of day and night. I talked 
shop in season and out. If I was given work that was 
not good enough for me, I would do it so well and so 
quickly that they thought I was worthy of something 
l)etter. No matter where I was, I managed, somehow, 
to get to the top. I noticed, the first thing, that the 
majority of the men around me were poor and the few 
rich ; and I knew, of course, that the methods of the 
former were wrong, and that, consequently, the way to 
succeed was to follow the latter." 



Hiram Stevens Maxim 

'"When did }ou first bcg'in to invent: ' 

"Almost before I learned to walk. When I went to 
work, I began to study out ways of improving tools and 
appliances." 

FROM GAS M.\CIIIXES TO IXCANDESCEXT LAMPS. 

"What were }0ur first practical inventions?" 
'In 1862-03 I was at work at Fitchburg, Massachu- 
setts, making gas machines. I made various improve- 
ments at that time, which afterward came into general 
use. From Mtchburg I went to Boston, where I entered 
I he service of Oliver P. Drake, who was not only a 
gas-machine maker, but also a philosophical-instrument 
maker. I first worked as a draughtsman, and then be- 
came his foreman. I learned from Mr. Drake many 
things that were useful to me in after life. From Bos- 
ton I came to New York, where I obtained a situation 
as draughtsman at the Xovelty Iron Works, East 
Twelfth street. At that time they were building the 
Pacific Mail steamers. Shortly after this, I thought of 
a new system of making gas from gasoline. All the 
machines that had existed would maintain only one 
hundred lights or less, and the density and illuminating 
power of the gas varied so much as to make the lights 
\cry unsatisfactory. I decided to make a machine that 
would make the gas, from first to last, of an equal den- 
sity. I made this machine and patented it. It was in- 
tended for large consumers, and several were purchased 
liv A. T. Stewart & Comi)any. One of them was in the 



Gunmuker and Feacemukcr 

I'ark Avenue Hotel, and, for a time, another was used 
in the Post Office in New York City. I also made a 
very large machine, the biggest ever made, for the 
Grand Union and several other hotels at Saratoga 
which belonged to A. T. Stewart. From gas machines 
I turned mv attention to small steam motors, and had a 
place in Centre street, which is still in existence, my 
successors being ^^lessrs. Welch and Lawson, 205 Cen- 
tre street. I soon began to experiment with electricity, 
and was the first man to file at the Patent Office an 
invention for building up and preserving the carbons 
of incandescent lamps, by the action of hydro-carbon 
vapors. I lost this patent, however, by a system of 
fraud, which I will not describe to-day. I was the first 
man to make an electrical regulator, and exhibited it at 
the Paris Exposition in 1881, and was made a Chevalier 
of the French Legion of Honor. I secured many 
patents on electrical inventions from 1880 to 1885. I 
next experimented with automatic firearms." 

THE GENESIS OF THE AUTOMATIC GUN. 

"How did you come to invent the automatic gun?'' 
"Many years ago, while firing at a target with a mili- 
tary musket, I was much surprised at the force of the 
recoil. It appeared to me that this waste of energy 
might be profitablv employed in loading and firing the 
weapon, but it was not until I went to Europe and 
found mvself in Paris with insufficient work to keep 
• me fully 'employed, that I tried to make an automatic 

43 



Hiram Stevens Maxim 

gun. I first made a drawing, which I afterward took 
to London ; and, having obtained and equipped a small 
factory there, I commenced experiments with the view 
of evolving a gun which would load and fire itself. 
There were no data to refer to. Xo one had ever before 
spent a single cent in experimenting with automatic 
guns. I first thought of employing the recoil to working 
existing forms of mechanism, but found that impracti- 
cable. I then designed and constructed a totally new 
machine and a totally new system of feeding. 

"In the spring of 18S4, I constructed the first appara- 
tus ever made in which the recoil of one cartridge 
would load another cartridge into the barrel and fire it. 
This is now in the South Kensington Museum, in Lon- 
don, labeled : 'This apparatus loads and fires itself, by 
force of its own recoil, and is the first machine ever 
made in which energy from the burning powder is em- 
ployed for loading and firing the arm.' 

"When I made my first gun and found that it would 
really load and fire itself. I knew it would have a great 
future. A few friends came in to see it. They told 
others, and very soon a great number of people came 
to see the new wonder. In fact, everybody, from the 
Prince of \\^ales down, came to see the gun and fire it. 
Xo less than two hundred thousand rounds of ammuni- 
tion were used in exjilaining the gun and showing it to 
visitors. At first, no one would believe that an auto- 
matic gun had really been made. X'^o one was prepared 
to liclievc. without seeing it. In fact. I mav sav that 

44 



Guniiiakcr and Peacemaker 

they were unable to undersland that the gun actually 
loaded and tired itself. It was considered a nine days' 
wonder. The English Government was the first to give 
an order. It asked for a gun which would not weigh 
over one hundred pounds, and would fire four hundred 
rounds per minute. I made one that weighed forty 
pounds and fired two thousand rounds in three minutes, 
with one pull of the trigger. This is a result that no 
one else has ever attained. I showed my gun to Lord 
Wolseley at Hythe, where I fired at a target. That 
leader and Colonel Tongue were standing by the gun 
while I was firing it. I heard the latter say that it was 
the best firing that had ever been seen ; that the accu- 
racy was much better than had ever been known be- 
fore; and that the rapidity of fire was without parallel. 
Everyone seemed astonished, and it was then that Lord 
Wolseley approached me and said: 'Mr. Maxim, I 
have seen your gun. It is simply wonderful. It is the 
most remarkable invention I ever saw in my life, and I 
congratulate you heartily upon your success ; but,' he 
continued, 'it is of no good, as you will observe that the 
cloud of smoke is very large indeed. L'nless you can get 
smokeless powder, I am afraid your gun will be of little 
use.' It was then that I began to think in earnest about 
smokeless powder, one of the directors having said that 
I was just the man to invent it. When I told him that 
I was not a chemist at all, as compared wnth Professors 
Fred. Adel and Dewar, his reply was : 'You know all 
the chemistry that is necessary in the matter, and, more- 

45 



Hiram Stevens Maxim 

over, you have an imagination, and the others have not. 
If _-ou take the matter up, I am sure you will go ahead 
of them.' " 

AUTOMATIC GUNS MADE SMOKELESS POWDER IXDISPEX- 
SABLE. 

"Such was really the case, because I find that my 
application for a patent for a smokeless powder, con- 
sisting of nitro-glycerine and gun cotton, was filed at 
the patent office about fourteen days ahead of any other, 
and Sir Richard Webster, in speaking for the govern- 
ment in the celebrated case of Nobel against the Gov- 
ernment on smokeless powder, said : 'H. S. Maxim is 
the first man to make a smokeless powder with nitro- 
glycerine and gun cotton. This powder was taken out 
to the States as much as eight or nine years ago, shown 
at Springfield, and put into competition with all other 
forms ; and, according to the printed reports of the 
lime, it was said to be superior to all others at all points, 
and I may say that the powder has not been improved 
on to any extent, as all the leading powders of to-day 
arc practically the same as that invented by him at that 
time.' 

"I was the first man to show a thoroughly good 
smokeless powder in the United States. Having suc- 
ceeded in England. I took my guns abroad. Switzer- 
land was the first country where T had a competitive 
trial with other makers. I was asked to fire at a dummy 
l)attcry of artillery, at thirteen hundred yards, for one 
minute: but. as a matter of fact. I was only engaged 

46 



Guniuakcr and Peacemaker 

Iialf a minute in actual firing, when it was telephoned 
that I had technically killed three-fourths of the men 
and horses. I thought, perhaps, that I ought to have 
killed the whole of them, but the general said with 
great enthusiasm: 'No gun ever made has ever done 
anything like that. It is the most marvelous thing that 
has ever been done. It is simply amazing. A little gun 
weighing only fifty pounds puts a battery of artillery 
out of action in half a minute, at thirteen hundred 
yards.' 

"I next took the gun to Italy, where I won another 
victory, and then returned to England. I received very 
large orders from all these countries, and the gun is 
now in use, I may say, nearly all over the world. These 
guns are being made not only by our own company, 
which has many factories in England, but by the Brit- 
ish Government, by Ludwig Loewe, of Berlin ; by 
Krupp, by Armstrong and by the United States Gov- 
ernment at Washington. The company with which I 
am connected is a very large one. and we make about 
sixty varieties of rapid-firing and automatic guns. We 
are also makers of very large guns, builders of battle- 
ships, etc. I have also made guns for flying aerial tor- 
pedoes, by the use of compressed air and gas. About 
ten years ago I conducted a series of experiments at 
Baldwin Park, Bexley. England, with a view of ascer- 
taining how much power is required to perform artifi- 
cial flight. These experiments were on a much larger 
scale than had ever been attempted before, and excited 

47 



Hiram Stevens Maxim 

a great deal of interest in the scientific world. Lord 
Kelvin, at the Oxford meeting of the British Associa- 
tion for the Advancement of Science, Lord SaHsbury in 
the chair, spoke in the highest terms of these experi- 
ments. He was very enthusiastic at what he had seen at 
Baldwin's Park. He said that the work was all exceed- 
ingly well done, that the experiments were conducted 
with great care, and that they were very creditable to 
me." 

HOW LI HUNG CHAXG BECAME INTERESTED IN MAXIM. 

■'I iiave been decorated by the President of France, 
by the Sultan of Turkey, by the Queen of Spain, and 
by the King of Portugal, etc." 

"How did you come to be decorated by the Emperor 
of China, Mr. Maxim ?" 

"On one occasion, when there was great excitement 
in London about a terrible massacre of missionaries in 
China, I attended a meeting which, at the beginning, 
was very much in favor of the missionaries and against 
the Chinese, but I made a speech from the Chinese 
standpoint and succeeded in getting a resolution passed 
about as follows : This meeting regrets exceedingly 
that the American and English Missionary Societies 
will persist in sending missionaries to China to attack 
the ancient faith of the Chinese, and we are very sorry 
that the missionaries will not remain ir their own coun- 
tries, and allow the Chinese to enjoy their own religion 
in their own way in their own country.' My speech 

48 



Gunmaker and Peacemaker 

was taken down in shorthand and sent to the Chinese 
Ambassador. He had it nicely written out in Chinese, 
beautifully bound, and sent it to Li Hung- Chang. The 
latter sent it to the Emperor, and the Emperor gave me 
a decoration." 

HOW A FIRST-CLASS FRAUD \\^\S EXPOSED. 

"Tell about the exposure of the Dowe scheme." 
"Some years ago a Hoboken barkeeper and a German 
tailor went to England to exploit the soundness of the 
alleged bullet-proof cloth. A whole town was placard- 
ed, to advertise Dowe's wonderful bullet-proof cloth, 
etc. The invention was shown at the El Cambria The- 
atre, and a great many of the old military men of Eng- 
land vvent to see this wonderful invention, for the secret 
of which the supposed inventors demanded two hun- 
dred thousand pounds. The thing actually shown, 
however, was not bullet-proof cloth, neither was it a 
bullet-proof coat, but a little shield about the size and 
thickness of a railway cushion, which w-as apparently 
of fibrous material, and would stop a bullet. A target 
was marked on a piece of paper, and a piece of paper 
folded over the gun. One of these pieces of paper fell 
into my hands. I saw where the bullet had entered, 
and where the flash came out. This was a complete 
'give away,' as it showed exactly what w-as in the plan, 
viz., that it was a piece of sharp deception. I then put 
a notice in the paper that I had discovered a shield, 
steel, better than that of Herr Dowe ; that his weighed 

49 



Hiram Stevens Maxim 

twelve and one-half pounds to the square foot, and mine 
only ten ; that he asked two hundred thousand pounds 
for his secret, whereas I would sell mine for seven shil- 
lings, sixpence. A great crowd of people came to see 
my supposed invention, and I showed the exact thing 
that Herr Dowe had, except that mine was thinner and 
lighter. I had used nickel steel where he had used 
chrome steel. I\Iany people were very much disap- 
pointed, and many of them blackguarded me in the 
papers, but there was truth in all I said. I did exactly 
what I said I would, and beat Herr Dowe in the point 
of weight. This exposed the whole thing, and, at the 
end of three days, everybody in London knew that Herr 
Dowe and the Hoboken barkeeper had been deceiving 
the public. In fact, one of their own men revealed the 
secret, confessing that it was nothing more nor less 
than a piece of steel with a cushion around it. Then 
the newspaper men who had been abusing me roundly, 
because they did not understand, in the first place, in- 
vited me to London to a dinner, and Herr Dowe and 
the Hoboken barVeeper disappeared." 
"To what do you attribute your success?" 
"I never tried to exploit an invention till I had one to 
exploit. That is, I never asked anyone to invest in a 
theory ; and I never allowed my name to be used to 
promote worthless properties or projects." 



50 



Ill 

A Poor Boy Once Borrowed Books 
Now Gives Away Libraries. 

SELFISH wealth stands surprised, amazed, almost 
indignant, at the announcement that Andrew 
Carnegie, instead of resting in Olympian luxury 
on the millions he has earned, and going to the 
grave with his gold tightly clutched in his stiffening 
fingers, proposes to expend the bulk of his riches, dur- 
ing his lifetime, for the benefit of his fellowmen. Great 
financiers, who, if they lived to be as old as Methuselah, 
could not use a tithe of their vast fortunes on their own 
ordinary maintenance, protest against Mr. Carnegie's 
plan of action, and declare that he ought to go on 
accumulating to the last. Others mildly suggest that 
his charity will be wasted on unworthy objects, and 
others frankly avow that they doubt the sincerity of 
his intentions. Altogether it may be said that Mr. 
Carnegie has stirred the very heart of Mammon as it 
has not been stirred since the Savior told the rich man 
to sell what he had and give to the poor. 

IT IS HARDER NOW TO GET A START. 

"There is no doubt," said Mr. Carnegie, in reply to 
a question from me, "that it is becoming harder and 

51 



Andrew Carnegie 

harder, as business gravitates more and more to im- 
mense concerns, for a young man without capital to get 
a start for himself, and in large cities it is especially 
so, where large capital is essential. Still it can be 
honestly said that there is no other country in the world, 
where able and energetic young men and women can so 
readily rise as in this. A president of a business col- 
lege informed me, recently, that he has never been able 
to supply the demand for capable, first-class [Mark the 
adjective] bookkeepers, and his college has over nine 
hundred students. In America, young men of ability 
rise with most astonishing rapiditv." 

"As quickly as when you were a boy?" 

"Much more so. When I was a boy, there were but 
very few important positions that a boy could aspire 
to. Everything had to be made. Xow a boy doesn't 
need to make the place, — all he has to do is to fit him- 
self to take it." 

"Did you make your high places as you went along?'"' 

"I shouldn't call them high, and T did not make the 
earliest ones. In starting new enterprises, of course. 
I made my place at the head of them. The earliest 
ones were the poorest kinds of positions, however." 

"Where did you begin life?" 

"In Dunfermline, Scotland. That was only my 
home during my earliest years. The service of my life 
has all been in this country." 

"In Pittsburg?" 

"Largely so. My father settled in Allegheny City, 

5^ 



Ironmaster and Philanthropist 

when 1 was only ten years old, and 1 began to earn my 
\\a\ in Pittsburg." 

"Do you mind telling me what your first service 
was ?" 

'"Not at all. I was a bobl)in boy in a cotton factory, 
then an engine-man or boy in the same place, and later 
still I was a messenger boy lor a telegraph company." 

MR. CARNKGIF.'s FIRST WAGES. 

"At small wages, I suppose." 

"One dollar and twenty cents a week was what I re- 
ceived as a bobbin boy, and I can tell you that I con- 
sidered it pretty good, at that. When I was thirteen, 
I had learned to run a steam engine, and for that I re- 
ceived a dollar and eighty cents a week." 

"You had no early schooling, then?" 

"None, except such as I gave myself. They were 
no fine libraries then, but in Allegheny City, where I 
lived, there was a certain Colonel Anderson, who was 
well to do and of a philanthropic turn. He announced 
about the time I first began to work, that he would be 
in his library at his home, every Saturday, ready to 
lend books to working boys and men. He only had 
about four hundred volumes, but I doubt if ever so 
few books were put to better use. Only he w^ho has 
longed, as I did, for Saturday to come, that the spring 
of knowledge might be opened anew to him, can un- 
derstand what Colonel Anderson did for me and others 
of the boys of Allegheny. Quite a number of them 

53 



Andrew Carnegie 

have risen to eminence, and I think their rise can be 
easily traced to this splendid opportunity." 
"Mow long did you remain an engine boy?" 
"Xot verv long." Mr. Carnegie replied, "perhaps a 
year." 

"And then?" 

"I entered a telegraph office as a messenger boy." 
Although Mr. Carnegie would not dwell much on 
this period, he once described it at a dinner given in 
honor of the American Consul at Dunfermline, Scot- 
land, when he said — 

"I awake from a dream that has carried me away 
back in the days of my boyhood, the day when the 
little white-haired Scottish laddie, dressed in a blue 
jacket, walked with his father into the telegraph office 
in Pittsburg to undergo examination as an applicant 
for a position as messenger boy. 

HIS FIRST GLIMPSE OF PAR.\DISE. 

"Well I remember when my uncle spoke to my 
parents about it, and my father objected, because I 
was then getting one dollar and eighty cents per week 
for running a small engine in a cellar in Allegheny 
City, but my uncle said a messenger's wages would be 
two dollars and fifty cents. ... If you want an idea 
as to heaven on earth, imagine what it is to be taken 
from a dark cellar, where I fired the boiler from morn- 
ing until night, and dropped into an office, where light 
shone from all sides, and around me books, papers, and 

S4 



Ironmaster and Philanthropist 

pencils in profusion, and oh! the ticl< of those mys- 
terious brass instruments on the desk, annihilating 
space and standing with throbbing spirits ready to 
convey any inteUigence to the world! This was my 
first glimpse of paradise, and I walked on air." 

"How did you manage to rise from this position?" 

"Well, I learned how to operate a telegraph instru- 
ment, and then waited my opportunity to show that I 
was fit to be an operator. Eventually my chance came, 
as everyone's does." 

The truth is that the boy had the appearance of one 
anxious to learn and quick to understand. James D. 
Reid, the superintendent of the office, and himself a 
Scotchman, favored the ambitious lad, and helped him. 
In his "History of the Telegraph," he says of him :— 

"I liked the boy's looks, and it was easy to see that, 
though he was little, he was full of spirit. He had not 
been with me a month when he began to ask whether 
I would teach him to telegraph. I began to instruct 
him and found him an apt pupil. He spent all his 
spare time in practice, sending and receiving- by sound 
and not by tape, as was largely the custom in those 
days. Pretty soon he could do as well as I could at the 
key, and then his ambition carried him away beyond 
doing the drudgery of messenger work." 

"As you look back upon it," I said to Mr. Carnegie, 
"do you consider that so lowly a beginning is better 
than one a little less trying?" 



Andrew Carnegie 

IT IS BEST TO 15EGIX AT THE BOTTOM. 

"For young men starting upon their lifework, it is 
much the best to begin as I did. at the beginning, and 
occupy the most subordinate positions. Many of the 
present-day leading men of Pittsburg, -who rose with 
me, had a serious responsibihty thrust upon them at 
the very threshold of their careers. They were intro- 
duced to the broom, and spent the first hours of their 
business life sweeping out the office. I notice we have 
janitors and janitresses now in offices, and our young 
men, unfortunately, miss that salutary branch of early 
education. Still I would say to the boy who has the 
genius of the future partner in him, that if by chance 
the professional sweeper is absent any morning, do not 
hesitate to try your hand at the broom. It does not 
hurt the newest comer to sw-eep out the office if neces- 
sary." 

"Did you?" 

"Many's the time. And who do you suppose were 
my fellow sweepers? David ^IcBargo, afterward 
superintendent of the Allegheny \'alley Railroad ; 
Robert Pitcairn, afterward superintendent of the 
Pennsylvania Railroad, and Mr. Moreland. subsequent- 
ly City Attorney of Pittsburg. We all took turns, tw^o 
each morning doing the sweeping; and now I remem- 
ber Davie was so proud of his clean shirt bosom that 
he used to spread over it an old silk bandana hand- 
kerchief wliich he ke])t for the purpose, and we other 

56 



Ironnuister and Philanthropist 

boys thought he was putting on airs. So he was. None 
of us had a silk handkerchief." 

"After you had learned to telegraph, did you consider 
that you had reached high enough?" 

"Not in the least. My father died just at that time, 
and the burden of the support of the family fell upon 
me. I became an operator at twenty-five dollars a 
month, a sum which seemed to me almost a fortune. I 
earned a little additional money by copying telegraphic 
messages for the newspapers, and managed to keep the 
family independent." 

HE WAS AN EXPERT TELEGRAPH OPERATOR. 

More light on this period of Mr. Carnegie's career is 
given by the "Electric Age," which says: "He was a 
telegraph operator abreast of older and experienced 
men ; and, although receiving messages by sound was, 
at that time, forbidden by authority as being unsafe, 
young Carnegie quickly acquired the art, and he can 
still stand behind the ticker and understand its lan- 
guage. As an operator, he delighted in full employ- 
ment and the prompt discharge of business, and a big 
day's work was his chief pleasure." 

"How- long did you remain with the telegraph com- 
pany?" 

"Until I was given a place by the Pennsylvania Rail- 
road Company." 

"As an operator?'" 

"At first, until I showed how the telegraph could 

SI 



Andrew Carnegie 

minister to railroad safety and success. Then I was 
made secretary to Thomas A. Scott, then superinten- 
dent, and not long afterward, when Colonel Scott be- 
came vice-president, I was made superintendent of the 
western division of the Pennsylvania Railroad." 

Thinking of this period of his life, I asked Air. Car- 
negie if his promotion was not a matter of chance, and 
whether he did not, at the time, feel it to be so. His 
answer was emphatic. 

"Xever. Young men give all kinds of reasons why, 
in their cases, failure is attributable to exceptional cir- 
cumstances, which rendered success impossible. Some 
never had a chance, according to their own story. This 
is simply, nonsense. No young man ever lived who 
had not a chance, and a splendid chance, too, if he was 
ever employed at all. He is assayed in the mind of his 
immediate superior, from the day he begins work, and, 
after a time, if he has merit, he is assayed in the council 
chambers of the firm. His ability, honesty, habits asso- 
ciations, temper, disposition — all these are weighed and 
analyzed. The young man who never had a chance is 
the same young man who has been canvassed over and 
over again by his superiors, and found destitute of 
necessary qualifications, or is deemed unworthy of 
closer relations with the firm, owing to some objec- 
tionable act, habit or association, of which he tiiought 
his eni|)loyers ignorant." 

"h sounds true." 



58 



Ironmaster and Philanthropist 



THE RIGHT MEN' IN DFiMAXn. 

"It is. Another class of young men attributes failure 
to rise to employers having near relatives or favorites 
whom they advance unfairly. They also insist that 
their employers dislike brighter intelligence than their 
own, and are disposed to discourage aspiring genius, 
and delighted in keeping young men down. There is 
nothing in this. On the contrar}-, there is no one suf- 
fering more for lack of the right man in the right place 
tiian the average employer, nor anyone more anxious to 
find him." 

"Was this your theory on the subject when you began 
working for the railroad company?" 

"I had no theory then, although I have formulated 
one since. It lies mainly in this : Instead of the ques- 
tion, 'What must I do for my employer?' substitute, 
'What can I do?' Faithful and conscientious discharge 
of duties assigned you is all very well, but the verdict 
in such cases generally is that you perform your present 
duties so well, that you would better continue perform- 
ing them. Now, this will not do. It will not do for 
the coming partners. There must be something be- 
\ond this. We make clerks, bookkeepers, treasurers, 
bank tellers of this class, and there they remain to the 
end of the chapter. The rising man must do something 
exceptional, and beyond the range of his special de- 
partment. He must attract attention," 

S9 



Andrew Carnegie 

HOW TO ATTRACT ATTENTION. 

"How can he do that?" 

"Well, if he is a shipping clerk, he may do so by dis- 
covering in an invoice an error with which he has notli- 
ing to do and which has escaped the attention of the 
proper party. If a weighing clerk, he may save the 
firm by doubting the adjustment of the scales, and hav- 
ing them corrected, even if this be the province of the 
master mechanic. If a messenger boy, he can lay the 
seed of promotion by going beyond the letter of his 
instructions in order to secure the desired reply. There 
is no service so low and simple, neither any so high, in 
which the young man of ability and willing disposition 
cannot readily and almost daily prove himself capable 
of greater trust and usefulness, and, what is equally 
imj^ortant, show his invincible determination to rise." 

"In what manner did you reach out to establish your 
present great fortune?" I asked. 

"By saving my money. I put a little money aside. 
and it served me later as a matter of credit. Also. I 
invested in a sleeping-car industry, which paid me 
well." 

CARNEGIE AND THE SLEEPING-CAR. 

Although I tried earnestly to get the great iron-king 
to talk of this, he said little, because the matter has been 
fully dealt with l)y liim in his "Triumphant Democ- 
racy." From his own story there, it appears that, one 

60 



Ironmaster and Philanthropist 

day at this time, when Mr. Carnegie still had his for- 
tune to make, he was on a train examining the hne from 
a rear window- of a car, when a tall, spare man, accosted 
him and asked him to look at an invention he had made. 
He drew from a green bag a small model of a sleeping- 
berth for railway cars, and proceeded to point out its 
advantages. It was ^Ir. T. T. Woodrufif, the inventor 
of the sleeping-car. ]\Ir. Carnegie tells the story him- 
self in "Triumphant Democracy:" — 

"He had not spoken a moment, before, like a flash, 
the whole range of the discovery burst upon me. 'Yes,' 
I said, 'that is something which this continent must 
have.' 

"Upon my return, I laid it before Mr. Scott, declaring 
that it was one of the inventions of the age. He re- 
marked : 'You are enthusiastic, young man, but you 
may ask the inventor to come and let me see it.' I did 
so, and arrangements w-ere made to build two trial cars, 
and run them on the Pennsylvania Railroad. I was 
offered an interest in the venture, which, of course, I 
gladly accepted. 

"The notice came that my share of the first payment 
was $217.50. How we'l I remember the exact sum! 
But two hundred and seventeen dollars and a half were 
as far beyond my means as if it had been millions. I 
was earning fifty dollars per month, however, and had 
prospects, or at least I always felt that I had. I decided 
to call on the local banker and boldly ask him to ad- 
vance the sum upon my interest in the aflfair. He put 

61 



Andnw Carnegie 

I'.is hand on my shouldtr and said: "Why, of course, 
Andie ; you arc all right. Go ahead ! Here is the 
money.' 

"It is a proud day for a man when he pays his last 
note, but not to be named in comparison with the day 
in which he makes his first one, and gets a banker to 
take it. 1 liave tried both, and I know. The cars paid 
the subsequent payments from their earnings. I paid 
my first note from m\- savings, so much per month, and 
thus did I get my foot upon fortune's ladder. It was 
easy to climb after that." 

"I would like some expression from you," I said to 
Mr. Carnegie, "in reference to the importance of laying 
aside money from one's earnings, as a young man." 

Till': MARK OF A MILLION AIRE. 

"You can have it. There is one sure mark of the 
coming partner, the future millionaire ; his revenues 
always exceed his expenditures. He begins to save 
early, almost as soon as he begins to earn. I should 
say to young men, no matter how little it may be possi- 
ble to save, save that little. Invest it securely, not 
necessarily in bonds, but in anything which you have 
good reason to believe will be profitable ; but no gam- 
bling with it, remember. A rare chance will soon pre- 
sent itself for investment. The little you have saved 
will prove the basis for an amount of credit utterly sur- 
prising to you. Capitalists trust the saving young luan : 
For. ever\- hundred dollars you can produce as the rc- 

62 



Ironmaster and Philanthropist 

suit of hard-won savings, Alidas, in scarcli of a ]xirUKT, 
will lend dv credit a thousand ; for every thousand, tifly 
thousand. It is not capital that your seniors require, 
it is the man who has proved that he has the business 
habits which create capital. So it is the first hundred 
dollars saved that tells." 

"What," I asked Mr. Carnegie, "was the next enter- 
prise with which you identified yourself?" 

A FORTUXATE LAND PURCHASE. 

"In company with several others, 1 purchased the 
now famous Storey farm, on Oil Creek, Pennsylvania, 
where a well had been bored and natural oil struck the 
year before. This proved a very profitable investment." 

"Were you satisfied to rest with these enterprises in 
your hands ?" I asked. 

"No ; railway bridges were then built almost exclu- 
sively of wood, but the Pennsylvania Railroad had 
begun to experiment with cast iron for bridge building. 
It struck me that the railway bridge of the future must 
be of iron, and I organized, in Pittsburg, a company 
for the construction of iron bridges. That was the 
Keystone Bridge Works. We built the first iron bridge 
across the Ohio." 

His entrance to the realm of steel was much too long 
for Mr. Carnegie to discuss, although he was not un- 
willing to give information relating to the great sub- 
ject. It appears that he realized the immensity of the 
steel manufacturing 1)usiness at once. The Union Iron 

f'3 



Andrew Carnegie 

Mills soon followed as one of his enterprises, and, later 
the famous Edgar Thompson Steel Rail Mill. The last 
was the outcome of a visit to England, in 1868, when 
Carnegie noticed that English railways were discarding 
iron for steel rails. The Bessemer process had been 
then perfected, and was making its way in all the iron- 
producing countries. Carnegie, recognizing that it was 
destined to revolutionize the iron business, introduced 
it into his mills and made steel rails with which he was 
enabled to compete with English manufacturers. 

THE HOMESTEAD STEEL WORKS. 

His next enterprise was the purchase of the Home- 
stead Steel Works, — his great rival of Pittsburg. By 
1888, he had built or acquired seven distinct iron and 
steel works. All the plants of this great firm are within 
a radius of five miles of Pittsburg. In no other part of 
the world can be found such an aggregation of splen- 
didly equipped steel works as those controlled by Car- 
negie and his associates. It now comprises the Home- 
stead Steel Works, the Edgar Thompson Steel Works 
and Furnaces, the Duquesne Steel Works and Fur- 
naces, all within two miles of one another ; the Lucy 
Furnaces, the Keystone Bridge Works, the Upper 
Union Rolling Mills, and the Lower L^nion Rolling 
Mills. 

In all branches, including the great coke works, 
mines, etc., there are employed twenty-five thousand 
men. The monthly pay roll exceeds one million, one 

64 




INFANCY 



Ironmaster and Philanthropist 

huntlred and twenty-five thousand dollars, or nearly 
fifty thousand dollars for each working day. 

"Vou believe in taking active measures," I said, "to 
make men successful." 

"Yes, I believe in anything which will help men to 
help themselves. To induce them to save, every work- 
man, in our company, is allowed to deposit part of his 
earnings, not exceeding two thousand dollars, with the 
firm, on which the high interest rate of six per cent, is 
allowed. The firm also lends to any of its workmen to 
buy a lot, or to build a house, taking its pay by install- 
ments." 

"Has this contributed any to the success of your com- 
pany?" 

.\ STRENGTHENING POLICY. 

"I think so. The policy of giving a personal interest 
to the men who render exceptional service is strength- 
ening. With us there are many such, and every year 
several more are added as partners. It is the policy of 
the concern to interest every superintendent in the 
works, every head of a department, every exceptional 
young man. Promotion follows exceptional service, 
and there is no favoritism." 

"All you have said so far merely gives the idea of 
getting money, w'ithout any suggestion as to the proper 
use of great wealth. Will you say something on that 
score?" 



65 



Andrew Carnegie 

"My views are rather well known, I think. What a 
man owns is already subordinate, in America, to what 
he knows; but, in the final aristocracy, the question 
will not be either of these, but what has he done for his 
fellows? Where has he shown generosity and self- 
abnegation ? Where has he been a father to the father- 
less ? And the cause of the poor ; where has he searched 
that out ? How he has worshipped God will not be 
asked in that day, but how he has served man." 

MR. carxegie"s philanthropy. 

That Mr. Carnegie has lived up. in the past, and is 
still living up to this radical declaration of independ- 
ence from the practice of men who have amassed for- 
tunes around him, will be best shown by a brief enu- 
meration of some of his almost unexampled philanthro- 
pies. His largest gift has been to the city of Pittsburg, 
the scene of his early trials and later triumphs. There 
he has built, at a cost of more than a million dollars, a 
magnificent library, museum, concert hall and picture 
gallery, all under one roof, and endowed it with a fund 
of another million, the interest of which (fifty thousand 
dollars per annum), is being devoted to the purchase 
of the best works of American art. Other libraries, to 
be connected with this largest as a center, are now being 
constructed, which will make the city of Pittsburg and 
its environs a beneficiary of his generosity to the extent 
of five million dollars. 

In his native land, Scotland, thrift is a virtue that is 

66 



Ironmaster and Philanthropist 

taught with the alphabet ; and, when the twelve-year- 
old "Andy" Carnegie came to America with his father 
and mother, he was full of the notion of thrift and its 
twin brother, hard work. 



CARNEGIE S VIEWS ON THRIFT. 

Once he wrote on the subject of thrift for a Scottish 
journal. He said : — 

"The accumulation of millions is usually the result 
of enterprise and judgment, and some exceptional abil- 
ity or organization. It does not come from savings, in 
the ordinary sense of the word. Men who, in old age, 
strive only to increase their already too great hoards, 
are usually slaves of the habit of hoarding, formed in 
their youth. At first they own the money they have 
made and saved. Later in life the money owns them, 
and they cannot help themselves, so overpowering is 
the force of habit, either for good or evil. It is the 
abuse of the civilized saving instinct, and not its use, 
that produces this class of men. No one needs to be 
afraid of falling a victim to this abuse of the habit, if 
he always bears in mind that whatever surplus wealth 
may come to him is to be regarded as a sacred trust, 
which he is bound to administer for the good of his fel- 
lows. The man should always be master. He should 
keep money in the position of a useful servant; he 
must never let it be his master and make a miser of 
him. A man"s first duty is to acquire a competence and 

67 



Andrew Carnegie 

be independent, then to do something for his needy 
neighbors who are less favored than himself." 

Mr. Carnegie has always lived up to this doctrine. 
He has made philanthropy a factor of existence. 
Already he has endowed over ninety libraries in differ- 
ent cities of the United States, having spent about 
$4,500,000 in this manner alone. He believes that a 
man can learn the science of true life and success in 
good books. In Scotland, where many of the residents 
of a poor hamlet have been benefited by his generosity, 
he is called "the good angel." Whenever he visits any 
of these places, he is a greater man than the King of 
Great Britain. 

While thus endowing the city where his fortune was 
made, he has not forgotten other places endeared to 
him by association or by interest. To the Allegheny 
Free Library he has given $375,000; to the Braddock 
Free Library, $250,000 ; to the Johnstown Free Library, 
$50,000, and to the Fairfield (Iowa) Library, $-10,Oo'o. 
To his native land he has been scarcely less generous. 
To the Edinburgh Free Library he has given $250,000. 
and to his native town of Dunfermline. $90,000. Other 
Scottish towns to the number of ten have received 
helpful donations of amounts not quite so large. 

"I should like you to say some other important things 
for the young man to learn and benefit by." 

"Our young partners in the Carnegie company have 
all won their spurs by showing that we did not know 
half as well what was wanted as they did. Some of 

68 



Ironmaster and Pliilanthropist 

them have acted upon occasions with me as if they 
owned the firm and I was but some airy New Yorker, 
presuming to advise upon what I knew very Httle about. 
Well, they are not now interfered with. They were the 
true bosses, — the very men we were looking for," 

"THE MISFORTUNE OF BEING RICH MEN's SONS." 

"Is this all for the poor boy?" 

"Every word. I trust that few, if any, of your 
readers have the misfortune to be rich men's sons. 
They are heavily weighted in the race. A basketful of 
bonds is the heaviest basket a young man ever had to 
carry. He generally gets to staggering under it. The 
vast majority of rich men's sons are unable to resist the 
temptations to which wealth subjects them, and they 
sink to unworthy lives. It is not from this class that 
the poor beginner has rivalry to fear. The partner's 
sons wall never trouble you much, but look out that 
some boys poorer, much poorer, than yourselves, whose 
parents cannot afiford to give them any schooling, do 
not challenge you at the post and pass you at the grand 
stand. Look out for the boy who has to plunge into 
work direct from the common school, and begins by 
sweeping out the office. He is the probable dark horse 
that will take all the money and win all the applause. 

"The first thing that a man should learn to do is to 
save his money. By saving his money he promotes 
thrift, — the most valued of all habits. Thrift is the 

69 



Andrew Carnegie 

great fortune-maker. It draws the line between the 
savage and the civilized man. Thrift not only develops 
tlie fortune, but it develops, also, the man's character." 



IV 

Self-reliance Promotes Him from 
Ten Dollars a Month to One 
Hundred Thousand a Year. 

NOW^HERE except in America, and seldom even 
there, could such a story as this be told. It 
is the story of a man who rose, without influ- 
ence, from poverty to wealth, who climbed the 
difficult ladder of achievement by the force of his own 
daring will, who helped to make others wealthy at the 
same time, and who passed, within a few short years, 
from the humble environment of a stake driver in an 
engineer corps to the leadership of forty-five thousand 
men in an industry so vast that the mythical tales of the 
Titans of old are exceeded by the modern reality. 

Such is the marvelous record of Charles M. Schwab, 
recently president of the United States Steel Corpora- 
tion. At seventeen he was earning one dollar a day in 
that great hive of human endeavor, the Carnegie Steel 
Works at Braddock, Pa. At thirty-seven years of age, 
he was in supreme control. 

There is a reason for it, of course. Why did this 
boy, among thousands of other boys who had the same 

71 



Charles Michael Schwab 

chance, rise to fame, while they did noti^ What is the 
kernel in the nut ? How did he do it ? 

When I called upon Mr. Schwab, it was unnecessary 
for me to make an elaborate explanation of the spirit of 
my errand. "If my example will prove of interest or 
help to others," he said, promptly, "you are welcome to 
it. There are certainly some lessons I have learned, 
and some rules of conduct I have observed, which are 
of general value." 

SELF-RELI.\XT .\xn VIGOROUS. HE AIMED TO EXCEL. 

We plunged at once into the story of his life ; how 
he first acquired a public school education in his native 
village of Loretto, Pennsylvania, and, at fifteen years 
of age, drove a mail wagon between Loretto and Cres- 
cent, a neighboring town. A year later found him 
working in a grocery store at Braddock, at ten dollars 
a month and board. There he worked hard all day, 
and slept in the store at night, as a watchman. Occa- 
sionally, he was given a few hours for recreation, and 
these he invariably spent in the steel works at Brad- 
dock, which had a fascination for him. In 1880, to his 
great joy, he obtained a place in the Carnegie works. 
The plant then was not the great concern it is now, 
nor was the young man's position a lucrative one ; yet 
the opportunity to gratify his inclination was a most 
welcome one. He became a stake driver in the engi- 
neer corps at thirty dollars per month, during the erec- 
tion of some buildings. Every stake he drove proved 



Orguni'/ing Manutacturer 

to be a mark of his own progress, binding him more 
and more closely to the works. In just seven years, of 
study and work, he became chief engineer, and was 
sent, in that capacity, to build the great Homestead 
steel plant, which he managed for two years after its 
completion. Then he was sent to be manager of the 
Edgar Thompson Steel Works for two years. 

"How do you explain your rapid promotion," I 
asked. 

"In the first place," replied Mr. Schwab, "I always 
stood on my own feet, — always relied upon myself. It 
is really a detriment to have anyone behind you. When 
you depend upon yourself, you know that it is onl\'on 
your merit that you will succeed. Then you discover 
your latent powers, awake to your manhood, and are 
on your mettle to do your utmost. It is a very good 
motto, to depend upon yourself. I am a great believer 
in self-reliant manliness, which is manhood in its 
noblest form. 

"There was one thing that I discovered very early, — 
that it would be well to make myself indispensable, 
instead of continually looking at the clock. Employers 
appreciate, to the full, men who may be trusted to do 
their work as if they were working for themselves, 
and endeavoring to carve out fortunes. 

"We do ever}'thing in our power to make men 
realize their importance. Once a week, every Satur- 
day, I have the heads of the various departments. 
upward of forty, take luncheon with me. Not a word 

73 



ClKirles Michael Schwab 

of business is permitted during the meal ; but, after 
everything is cleared away, we discuss matters in 
hand and exchange opinions. Every one of the gentle- 
men present is at liberty to advise, to suggest, and to 
air his ideas. The value of these meetings is very 
great. Another thing I have learned, and that is that, 
while one may have many conceptions, when he must 
speak them before an audience, he gives them more 
careful consideration, and generally they prove of per- 
manent value. Always be sure of your facts. You 
lessen the esteem of your superiors if you are not. 

"On Monday, the gentlemen who have lunched with 
me' call their head men together, and have similar 
meetings. 

"When I first went to work for Mr. Carnegie, I had 
over me an impetuous hustling man. It was neces- 
sary for me to be up to the top notch to give satisfac- 
tion, I worked faster than I otherwise would have 
done, and to him I attribute the impetus that I acquired. 
My whole object in life then was to show him my 
worth and to prove it. I thought and dreamed of 
nothing else but the steel works. In consequence, I be- 
came his assistant. I attribute my first great success to 
hard and active work. I found that those who were 
quickest were those to be promoted." 

HE MASTERKD METALLURGY, THE GLORY OF CHEMISTRY. 

"At that time science began to play an important 
part in tlie manufacture of steel. jMy salary, at the 

.74 



Organizing Manufacturer 

age of twenty-one, warranted me in marrying, so I 
had a home of my own. I believe in early marriages, 
as a rule. In my own house I rigged up a laboratory, 
and studied chemistry in the evenings, determined that 
there should be nothing in the manufacture of steel 
that I would not know. Although I had received no 
technical education. I made myself master of chemistry, 
and of the laboratory, which proved of lasting value." 

IIIS WIFE ENCOURAGED HIM IN HIS WORK. 

His biographers delight in saying that his marriage 
to Miss Emma Dinkey was the culmination of a boyish 
love afifair ; that he went to school with her in Loretto 
when she was a little girl with her hair in plaits. This 
is a touch of imaginary romance. While in the Edgar 
Thompson Works, he boarded at her home, and there 
his bride-to-be, while a young woman, waited on the 
table. He married her when he was twenty-one years 
old. There is something in the disposition of some 
women that is a source of inspiration to men. There 
are enviable ends man will strive to attain, if only 
for the gratification of a woman and the pride she 
takes in him. Mrs. Schwab, a stately woman of refine- 
ment, has been always a source of great inspiration 
to her husband. She encouraged him in his work in 
his private laboratory and studied chemistry to assist 
him. 

THE VALUE OF HIS EXPERIMENTS. 

The strength and superior qualities of American 

75 



Charles Michael Schwab 

armor plate, — the substantial strength of our battle- 
ships and cruisers, — are largely due to Mr. Schwab, 
who raised the standard of armor, and this may be 
followed back to his first experiments in his laboratory. 

"The point I wish to make," continued he, "is that 
my experimental work was not in the line of my duty, 
but it gave me greater knowledge. Achievement is 
possible to a man who does something else besides his 
mere duty that attracts the attention of his superiors 
to him. — as one who is equipping himself for advance- 
ment. An employer picks out his assistants from the 
best informed, most competent and conscientious." 

At this point I asked if Mr. Carnegie had not proved 
a factor in his encouragement. 

ONWARD EVER, ALWAYS UPWARD. 

"Yes," said he, "Mr. Carnegie and others took a 
general interest in me, which I tried to foster by doing 
my level best. A man who is not susceptible to en- 
couragement will not succeed. I never encourage 
those who are not susceptible to encouragement, — those 
who are willing to continue in the even tenor of their 
ways. They are not extraordinary individuals. They 
attract no attention, are overlooked, or drop out. You 
see the point. A man must be wide-awake and up to 
date. His future mostly depends upon himself." 

"Do you think the chances for a young man. to-day, 
are as great as they were when you began?" 

"There were never before so many opportunities for 

76 



Organizing Manufacturer 

the right kind of young men. For example, one of my 
head men told me that he had been three weeks trying 
to find a man competent to take charge of an important 
position, and, when I last saw him, he had not suc- 
ceeded. Employers everywhere are on the lookout for 
competent, pushing, 'get there' men; and, when they 
are found, they do not easily part with them." 

It has been shown how Mr. Schwab tried to make 
himself indispensable. One day, after he had risen to 
be general manager of the Carnegie Steel Company, a 
gentleman from England walked into the office, and 
offered him a larger salary than the President of the 
United States receives, if he would take charge of his 
English works. Mr. Schwab refused, but did not tell 
Mr. Carnegie. Some months afterward Mr. Carnegie 
heard of it, and took pains to say to Mr. Schwab that 
he "must not think of it." 

"It is not what I want," he replied. 

"What is it you do want?" asked Mr. Carnegie. 

WHO SEEKS THE TOP MUST START AT THE BOTTOM. 

"To be a partner in your company," said Mr. 
Schwab. 

He became one, and, in 1896, was elected president. 

"Here is another point," he continued ; "first be 
master of what you undertake, and the money will 
follow." 

"But you believe in a college education ?" I ventured. 

"Not for a business man. I have noted how few 

77 



Charles Michael Schwab 

successful business men have received a college educa- 
tion. In the first place, a man, to understand his busi- 
ness, must start at the bottom of the ladder and work 
liimself up. To do so, he must commence when young, 
when he learns quickly and may be led. A college man 
seldom rivets his whole attention on his work. He is 
in dreamland most of the time, gives his evenings to 
society, and tries to combine work and pleasure. He is 
not wrapped up in his work. It is remarkable how few 
in our works who hold responsible positions have even 
received technical education. One day Mr. Wittken- 
stein, the Carnegie of Austria, attended my Saturday 
meeting. Glancing over those present, he asked : 'How 
many of these gentlemen, Mr. Schwab, received a tech- 
nical education?' That had never occurred to me be- 
fore, and, on inquiry, it was found that only three of 
those present had. The rest had risen from the ranks, 
and solely on their merits. Nothing else cuts any figure 
with us. It is a great mistake to think that young men 
are not wanted for responsible positions. Any preju- 
dice that existed long since died. 

"I do not mean to say that I am not a believer in 
education," continued Mr. Schwab. 'T am a great be- 
liever in self-education, after graduation from a high 
grade of public school. A man, to be successful even 
as a specialist, should have a good general knowledge, 
and, therefore, ought to read and study much. A well- 
informed man is always the brighter for it. All through 
my life I have read and studierl." 

78 



Organizing Manufacturer 

Mr. Schwab delights in humor, and believes that 
felicity is a great aid to business. He is frequently 
called to speak before the industrial societies of Pitts- 
burg and other places, in which he takes personal and 
pecuniary interest. These addresses are instructive and 
interesting, but they are interspersed always with jokes 
and witticisms, for he believes that humor is the lubri- 
cator of public speech. 

Mr. Schwab is unostentatiously benevolent, and takes 
pleasure, in a practical way, in forwarding the interests 
of deserving young men. He established the Home- 
stead Industrial School at a personal cost of $24,000, 
and has encouraged other institutions of a similar 
nature. He is not a strict churchman, although he is 
religious. It has always been his custom to celebrate 
Christmas by going to church with his mother. In 
Loretto, his early home, he recently built a new Catho- 
lic church, at a cost of $150,000. From miles around 
people drive in their w-agons to Loretto to attend this 
church. 



79 



V 

Determined not to Remain Poor, 
a Farmer Boy Becomes a Mer- 
chant Prince 

MARSHALL FIELD, one of the greatest mer- 
chants of the United States, and that means 
of the world, is not readily accessible to in- 
terviewers. He probably feels, like most men 
of real prominence, that his place in the history of his 
time is established, and he is not seeking for the fame 
that is certain to attend his name and his business 
achievements. No more significant story, none more 
full of stimulus, of encouragement, of brain-inspiring 
and pulse-thrilling potency has been told in any ro- 
mance. It is grand in its very simplicity, in its very lack 
of assumption of special gifts or extraordinary fore- 
sight. The Phenix-like revival from the ashes of ruined 
Chicago is spoken of by Mr. Field as an incident in the 
natural and to be expected in the order of events. In 
Marshall Field it was no doubt natural and to be ex- 
pected, and it touches the very keynote of the character 
of the celebrated western merchant, sprung from 
rugged eastern soil, whose career is an example to be 
studied with profit by every farmer boy, by every office 

80 



A Prince of Merchants 

boy, by every clerk and artisan, — }cs, and by every 
middle-aged business man, whetber going along 
smoothly or confronted by apparentl}- ruinous circum- 
stances, throughout our broad land. 

I was introduced to Mr. Field in the private office of 
Mr, Harry G. Selfridge, his most trusted lieutenant, 
and this first of interviews with the head of Chicago's 
greatest mercantile house followed. 

"My object," I said to Mr. Field, "is to obtain your 
opinion as to what makes for and constitutes success in 
life." 

"That can be quickly given," said Mr. Field ; "what 
would you like to know ?" 

"I wish to know something of your early life, and 
under what conditions you began it." 

"I was born in Conway, Massachusetts, in 1835. My 
father's farm was among the rocks and hills of that sec- 
tion, and not very fertile." 

"And the conditions were?" 

"Hard." 

"You mean that you were poor?" 

"Yes, as all people were in those days, more or less. 
My father was a farmer. I was brought up under 
farming conditions, such as they were at that time." 

HIS PARENTS HELPED HIM. 

"Did the character and condition of your parents 
tend in any way to form your ambition for commercial 
distinction?" 

8i 



Marshall Field 

"Yes, somewhat. My father was a man who, I con- 
sider, had good judgment. He made a success out of 
the farming business. My mother was more intellectu- 
ally bent, if anything, and, naturally, both my parents 
were anxious that their boys should amount to some- 
thing in life. Their interest and care helped me." 

"Had you early access to books ?" 

"No ; I had but few books, scarcely any to speak of. 
There was not much time for hterature. Such books 
as we had, though, I made use of." 

"AVere you so placed that your commercial instincts 
could be nourished by contact with that side of life ?" I 
asked. 

"Yes, in a measure. Not any more so than any other 
boy raised in that neighborhood. I had a leaning to- 
ward business, and took up with it as early as possible." 

"Were you naturally of a saving disposition?" 

"Oh, yes. I had to be. Those were saving times. A 
dollar looked very big to us boys in those days, and as 
we had difficult labor earning it. it was not quickly 
spent. I may say I was naturally saving, however, and 
was determined not to remain poor." 

"Did you attend both school and college?" 

"Only the common and high schools at home, but not 
for long. I had no college training. Indeed, I cannot 
say that I had much of any public school education. I 
left home when T was seventeen years of age, and, of 
course, had not time to study closely." 

82 



A Prince of Merchants 

"What was the nature of your first venture in trade, 
Mr. Field ?" 

"My first venture was made as a clerk in a country 
store at Pittsfield, Massachusetts, where all things were 
sold, including dry goods, and there I remained for four 
years. There I picked up my first knowledge of that 
business." 

"Do you consider those years well spent?" 

"I think my employer did, anyway." He laughed. 

"I saved my earnings and attended strictly to busi- 
ness, and so made them valuable years to me." 

■''Was there no inducement to remain there as vou 



were 



"Yes ; before I went w'est, my employer offered me a 
quarter interest in his business if I would remain with 
him. Even after I had been here several years, he 
wrote and offered me a third interest if I would go 
back. But I was already too well placed." 

"Did you fancy that you were destined for some other 
field than that in which you have since distinguished 
yourself?" 

ALWAYS INTERESTED IX COMMERCE. 

"No. I think not. I was always interested in the 
commercial side of life, and always thought I would be 
a merchant. To this end, I bent my energies, and soon 
realized that, successful or not, my labor would always 
be of a commercial nature." 

"When did you come to Chicago?" I inquired. 

"I caught what was then the prevalent fever to come 

«3 



Marshall Field 

west, and grow up with the country, and west I came. 
I entered as a clerk in the dry goods house of Cooley, 
W'oodsworth & Co., in South Water street." 

"Did you foresee Chicago's growth in any way ?" 

"Xo, there was no guarantee at that time that the 
place would ever become the western metropolis. The 
town had plenty of ambition and pluck ; but the possi- 
bilities of greatness were hardly visible." 

It is interesting to note in this connection that the 
story of Mr. Field's progress is a w^onderfully close 
index of Chicago's marvelous growth. An almost exact 
parallel may be drawn between the career of the indi- 
vidual and the growth of the town. Chicago was or- 
ganized in 1837, two years after Mr. Field w^as born on 
the far-off farm in New England, and the place then 
had a population of a little more than four thousand. 
In 185(5, when Mr. Field, fully equipped for a success- 
ful mercantile career, became a resident of the future 
metropolis of the west, the population had grown to 
little more than eighty-four thousand. ^Ir. Field's 
prosperity advanced in strides parallel to those of the 
city ; with Chicago he was stricken but not crushed by 
the great fire of 1871, and with Chicago he advanced 
again to higher achievement and far greater prosperity 
than before the calamity. 

"What were your equipments for success when vou 
started as a clerk here in Chicago, in 1856?" 

"Health, sound principles, I hope, and ambition," 
answered Mr. Field. 

84 



A Prince of" Merchants 

"And brains," I suggested ; but he only smiled. 

"What were the conditions here?" 

"Well, merit did not have to wait for dead men's 
shoes in a growing town, of course. Good qualities 
were usually promptly discovered, and men were pushed 
forward rapidly." 

"How long did you remain a clerk?" 

"Only four years. In 18G0, I was made a partner, 
and in ISGo, there was a partial reorganization, and the 
firm consisted after that of Mr. Leiter, Mr. Palmer and 
myself (Field, Palmer & Leiter). Two years later Mr. 
Palmer withdrew, and until 1881 the style of the firm 
was Field, Leiter & Co. Mr. Leiter retired in that year, 
and since then it has been as at present: (Marshall 
Field & Co.) 

"What contributed most to the great growth of your 
business?" I asked. 

"To answer that question," said Mr. Field, "would 
be to review the condition of the west from the time 
Chicago began until the fire in 1871, Everything was 
coming this way : immigration, railways and water traf- 
fic, and Chicago was enjoying what was called 'flush' 
times.' There were things to learn about the country, 
and the man who learned the quickest fared the best. 
For instance, the comparative newness of rural com- 
munities and settlements made a knowledge of local 
solvency impossible. The old state banking system 
prevailed, and speculation of every kind was rampant. 
The panic of 1857 swept almost everything away except 

8i 



Marshall Field 

the house I worked for, and I learned that the reason 
thev survived was because they understood the nature 
of the new country, and did a cash business. That is, 
they bought for cash, and sold on thirty and sixty days, 
instead of giving the customers, whose financial condi- 
tion you could hardly tell anything about, all the time 
they w^anted. When the panic came, they had no debts, 
and little owing to them, and so they weathered it all 
right. I learned what I consider my best lesson, and 
that was to do a cash business." 

HIS PRINCIPLES OF BUSINESS. 

"What were some of the principles you applied to 
your business?" I questioned. 

"Well, I made it a point that all goods should be 
exacdy what they were represented to be. It was a 
rule of the house that an exact scrutiny of the quality 
of all goods purchased should be maintained, and that 
nothing was to induce the house to place upon the mar- 
ket any line of goods at a shade of variation from their 
real value. Every article sold must be regarded as war- 
ranted, and every purchaser must be enabled to feel 
secure." 

"Did you suffer any losses or reverses during your 
career?" 

"No loss except by the fire of 1871. It swept away 
everything, — about three and a half millions. We 
were, of course, protected by insurance, which would 
have been sufficient against any ordinary calamity of 

86 



A Prince of Merchants 

the kind. But the disaster was so sweeping that some 
of the companies which had insured our property were 
blotted out, and a long time passed before our claims 
against others were settled. We managed, however, to 
start again. There were no buildings of brick or stone 
left standing, but there were some great shells of horse- 
car barns at State and Twentieth streets which were not 
burned, and I hired those. We put up signs announc- 
ing that we would continue business uninterruptedly, 
and then rushed the work of fitting things up and get- 
ting in the stock," 

"Did the panic of 1873 effect your business?" 
"Not at all. We didn't have any debts." 
"May I ask what you consider to have been the turn- 
ing-point in your career, — the point after which there 
was no more danger of poverty?" 

"Saving the first five thousand dollars I ever had, 
when I might just as well have spent the moderate sal- 
ary I made. Possession of that sum, once I had it, gave 
me the abihty to meet opportunities. That I consider 
the turning-point." 

PERSEVERANCE, MR. FIELd's ESSENTIAL TRAIT. 

"What one trait of your character do you look upon 
as having been the most essential to your successful 
career?" 

"Perseverance," said Mr. Field ; but another at hand 
insisted upon the addition of "good judgment" to this, 
which Mr. Field indifferently acknowledged. "If I am 



Marshall Field 

compelled to lay claim to these traits," he went on, "it 
is simply because I have tried to practice them, and be- 
cause the trying has availed me much, I suppose. I 
have always tried to make all my acts and commercial 
moves the result of definite consideration and sound 
judgrnent. There were never any great ventures or 
risks, — nothing exciting whatever. I simply practiced 
honest, slow-growing business methods, and tried to 
back them with energy and good systeip.'' 
■'Have you always been a hard-worker?" 
"Xo," Mr. Field said, with the shadow of a smile. 
"I have never believed in overworking, either as applied 
to myself or others. It is always paid for with a short 
life, and I do not beheve in it." 

"Has there ever been a time in your life when you 

gave as much as eighteen hours a day to your work?" 

"Never. That is, never as a steady practice. During 

the time of the fire in 18T1, there was a short period in 

which I worked very hard. For several weeks then I 

worked the greater part of night and day, as almost 

anyone would have done in my place. jMy fortune, 

however, has not been made in that manner, and, as I 

have said, I believe in reasonable hours for everyone, 

but close attention during those hours." 

"Do you work as much as you once did ?" 

"I never worked very many hours a day. Besides, 

people do not work as many hours a day now as the}- 

once did. The day's labor has shortened in the last 

twenty years for everyone. Still, granting that. I 

88 



A Prince ot' Merchants 

cannot say that 1 work as much as I once did. and I 
frankly admit that I do not feel the need of it." 

"Do you beUeve," I went on, "that a man should 
cease laboring before his period of usefulness is over, 
so that he may enjoy some of the results of his labor 
before death, or do you believe in retaining constant 
interest in affairs while strength lasts?" 

"As to that, I hold the French idea, that a man ought 
to retire when he has gained a competence wherewith 
to do so. I think that is a very good idea. But I do 
not believe that when a man retires, or no longer at- 
tends to his private business in person every day, he has 
given up interest in the aft'airs of the world. He may 
be, in fact should be, doing wider and greater work 
when he has abandoned his private business, so far as 
personal attention is concerned." 

QUALITIES THAT MAKE FOR SUCCESS. 

"What, Mr. Field," I said, "do you consider to be the 
first requisite for success in life, so far as the young 
beginner is concerned ?" 

"The qualities of honesty, energ}% frugality, integ- 
rity, are more necessary than ever to-day, and there is 
no success without them. They are so often urged that 
they have become commonplace, but they are really 
more prized than ever." 

"I should like to know what you believe should be 
the aim of the young man of to-day ?" 

"He should aim," said Mr. Field, "to possess the 
qualities I have mentioned." 

89 



Marshall Field 

"By some, however," I suggested, "these are looked 
upon as a means to an aim only. Would you say to the 
young man, 'get wealth ?' " 

"Not," Mr. Field answered, "without practicing un- 
flinchingly these virtues." 

"Would you say to him, 'acquire distinction?' " 

"Not at any expense to his moral character. I can 
only say, 'practice these virtues and do the best you 
can.' Any good fortune that comes by such methods 
is deserved and admirable." 

"Do you believe a college education for the young 
man to be a necessity in the future?" 

"Not for business purposes. Better training will 
become more and more a necessity. The truth is, with 
most young men, a college education means that just 
at the time when they should be having business princi- 
ples instilled into them, and be getting themselves 
energetically pulled together for their life's work, they 
are sent to college. Then intervenes what many a 
young man looks back on as the jolliest time of his life, 
— four years of college. Often when he comes out of 
college the young man is unfitted by this good time to 
buckle down to hard work, and the result is a failure to 
grasp opportunities that would have opened the way 
for a successful career." 

"Would you say that happiness consists in labor, or 
in contemplation of labor well done, or in increased 
possibility of doing more labor ^" 

90 



A Prince ot" Merchants 

"I should say," said Mr. Field, "diat a man finds hap- 
piness in all three. There certainly is no pleasure in 
idleness. I believe, as I have said, that a man, upon 
giving up business, does not necessarily cease laboring, 
but really does, or should do, more in a larger sense. 
He should interest himself in public affairs. There is 
no happiness in mere dollars. After they are had one 
cannot use but a moderate amount of them. It is given 
a man to eat so much, to wear so much, and to have so 
much shelter, and more he cannot use. When money 
has supplied these, its mission, so far as the individual 
is concerned, is fulfilled, and man must look further 
and higher. It is only in the wider public affairs, 
where money is a moving force toward the general wel- 
fare, that the possessor of it can possibly find pleasure, 
and that only in doing constantly more." 

"What," I said, "in your estimation, is the greatest 
good a man can do?" 

"The greatest good he can do is to cultivate himself 
in order that he may be of greater use to humanity." 

"What one suggestion," I said, in conclusion, "can 
you give to the young men of to-day, that will be most 
useful to them, if observed?" 

"Regardless." said Mr. Field, "of any opinion of 
mine, or any wish on the part of the young men for 
wealth, distinction or praise, we know that to be honest 
is best. There is nothing better, and we also know that 
nothing can be more helpful than this when combined 
with other essential qualities." 



VI 

Honesty, the Foundation of a Great 
Merchant's Career 

THE men who manipulate the levers that move 
the world, with few exceptions, were once poor 
boys. One of the largest retail stores in the 
world, in Philadelphia, and one of the hand- 
somest stores in America, in New York, are monu- 
ments of the genius, industry and integrity of a "boy 
with no chance" who has become the peer of any of the 
merchant kings of our century. He is also one of the 
very foremost in many other enterprises. 

To accomplish all these various things, it would be 
supposed that Mr. Wanamaker must have been a pet of 
fortune from the first. But that is not so. He began 
with nothing, as money goes, and has pushed his way 
to the top by sheer force of character, and by unweary- 
ing work. 

I know of no career in this countr}- that offers more 
encouragement to young people. It shows what per- 
sistency can do ; it shows what intelligent, well-directed, 
tireless effort can do ; and it proves that a man may 
devote himself to helping others, to the Sunday school, 

92 



A Great Modern Merchant 

to the church, to broad philanthropy, and stiU be won- 
derfully successful in a business way. 

A ST.\N'CH 1NHERTT.\XC1£. 

John Wanamaker, the boy, had no single thing in all 
his surroundings to give him an advantage over any 
one of hundreds of other boys in the city of Philadel- 
phia. Indeed, there were hundreds of other boys of his 
own age for whom anyone would have felt safe in 
prophesying a more notable career. But young Wana- 
maker had an inheritance beyond that of almost any of 
the others. It was not mone)- ; very few boys in all that 
great citv had less money than John Wanamaker, and 
comparatively few families of average position but 
were better off in the way of worldly goods. John 
Wanamaker's inheritance, that stood him in such good 
stead in after life, was good health, good habits, a clean 
mind, thrift in money matters, and tireless devotion to 
whatever he thought to be duty. 

He went to school some, not very much ; he assisted 
his mother in the house a great deal, and around his 
father's brickyard he was very helpful so far as a boy 
could be helpful in such hard work. But he had ambi- 
tion beyond such things, and in 185t?, when in his fif- 
teenth year, he found work with a publishing house at 
$1.50 a week. 

I know a number of people who were well acquainted 
with John Wanamaker when he was a book publisher's 
boy. Most of them say that he was an exceptionally 

93 



John Wanamaker 

promising boy; that he was studious as well as atten- 
tive to business. Some of them declare that he used to 
buy a book or some such gift for his mother regularly 
with part of his savings. This may be partly romance, 
— the exaggerated remembrance that most people have 
of a boy who, as a man, cuts a notable figure in the 
world. Very likely he did buy some books, but the 
best that I can get is that, after all, he was very much 
like other boys, except that he did not take kindly to 
rough play, or do much playing of any kind, and that 
he was saving of his money. He was earnest in his 
work, unusually earnest for a boy, and so when, a 
little later, he went to a Market street clothing house 
and asked for a place, he had no difficulty in getting it, 
nor had he any trouble in holding it. 

HE WAS ALWAYS PROMPT. 

His effort was to be first at the store in the morning, 
and he was very likely to be one of the last, if not the 
last at the store in the evening. But he did not expect 
credit for this. Men who worked with him in the 
Tower Hall clothing store say that he was always 
bright, willing, accommodating, and very seldom out of 
temper. If there was an errand, "John" was always 
prompt and glad to do it. And so the store people liked 
him, and the proprietor liked him, and, when he began 
to sell clothing, the customers liked him. He was con- 
siderate of their interests. He did not try to force 
undesirable goods upon them. Ho treated them so tliat 

94 



A Great Modem Merchant 

when they came again they would be apt to ask, "Where 
is John?" There was nothing in all this that any boy 
could not have done ; it is simply the spirit that any boy 
or young man should show now, — must show if he ex- 
pects to succeed wonderfully. Of course this could 
only lead to something higher. An ambitious young 
man, such as John Wanamaker, was not to be contented 
to sell goods all his days for other people. It was not 
long before he became secretary of the Young Men's 
Christian Association at $1,000 a year. In the course 
of a few years he had saved $2,000, when, joining with 
a friend who had $2,000, they decided to open a clothing 
store of their own. 

Now here was successful growth without one single 
outside influence to help the young man along. He got 
his first situation without influence. He got into Tower 
Hall without influence. His earnestness, activity and 
ability got him the secretaryship. He saved $2,000 
while other young men, who perhaps had earned many 
times more than he, had saved nothing. He had made 
friends among the customers of the old store, and he 
had not only made friends of many of the employees 
there, but he had impressed them all with the feeling 
that here was a young man whom it was safe to tie to. 
He had also made friends among church people and 
helpful folk generally. All of this was great capital. 

STEP BY STEP UPWARD. 

At the very outset of his storekeeping. John Wana- 

95 



John Wanamaker 

maker did what ahnost any other business man would 
have stood aghast at. He chose the best man he knew 
as a salesman in the clothing business in Philadelphia, 
and agreed to pay him $1,350 a year, — one-third of the 
entire capital of the new concern. It seemed reckless 
extravagance. And there were other employees, too, 
entire capital of the new concern. It seemed reckless 
promise of this great sum just for one assistant! This 
move that seemed so audacious was really a very wise 
one ; for, when the new employee went with Mr. Wana- 
maker to New York to buy goods, the fact of his asso- 
ciation added credit to the young house and so a little 
money was eked out with a good deal more of credit, 
and a very fair stock of goods was laid in. This was 
just as the war began. Oak Hall was a success from 
the start. Possibly, under the circumstances, any sort 
of a clothing venture that had fair backing would have 
been a success. But no ordinary concern could have 
grown so rapidly and so healthfully as Oak Hall grew. 
And right here another characteristic of Mr. Wana- 
maker's makeup strikingly manifested itself; he zvas 
not bound by precedent. No matter how time-honored 
a business method might be if it did not strike him as 
the wisest, he put it aside at once. And from the first 
he fully appreciated the importance of attracting public 
attention. As a boy he had published "Everybody's 
Journal." — a hodge-podge of odd bits with dabs of 
original matter ; notable then and now mainly because 
it indicated the bent of the young mind. At Oak Hall 

96 



A Great Modern Merchant 

the same spirit of innovation was continually shown. It 
has often been told how Mr. Wananiaker delivered his 
first order in a wheelbarrow, and put the money ($38) 
into an advertisement in The Inquirer." But this was 
only one instance significant of the man, 

"waking up" a town. 

Philadelphia awoke one morning to find "W. & B." 
in the form of six-inch square posters stuck up all over 
the town. There was not another letter, no hint, just 
"W. & B." Such things are common enough now, but 
then the whole city was soon talking and wondering 
w^hat this sign meant. After a few days, a second pos- 
ter modestly stated that Wananiaker & Brown had 
begun to sell clothing at Oak Hall. 

Of course the young firm got business rapidly. When 
any man gets out of a rut and in the direction of more 
enterprise, it helps him. Before long there were great 
signs, each 100 feet in length, painted on special fences 
built in a dozen places about the city, particularly near 
the railroad stations. These told of the new firm and 
were the first of a class that are now seen all over the 
country. New^ ideas in advertising were cropping out. 
In time balloons more than twenty feet high were sent 
up, and a suit of clothes was given to 'each person who 
brought one of them back. Whole counties were stirred 
up by the balloons. It was grand advertising, imitated 
since by all sorts of people. When the balloon idea 
struck the Oak Hall management it was quickly found 

97 



John Wanamaker 

that the only way to get these air-ships was to make 
them, and so, on the roof of the store, the cotton cloth 
was cut and oiled and put together. Being well built, 
and tied very tightly at the neck, they made long flights 
and some of them were used over and over again. In 
one instance, a balloon remained for more than six 
months in a cranberry swamp, and when the great bag 
was discovered, slowly swaying in the breeze, among 
the bushes, the frightened Jerseymen thought they had 
come upon an elephant, or, maybe, a survivor of the 
mastodons. This made more advertising of the very 
best kind for the clothing store,— the kind that excites 
interested, complimentary talk. 

SEIZING OPPORTUNITIES. 

Genius consists in taking advantage of opportunities 
quite as much as in making them. Here was a young 
man doing things in an advertising way regardless of 
the custom of the business world, and with a wonderful 
knowledge of human nature. He took coirmion-sense 
advantage of opportunities that were open to every- 
body. 

Soon after the balloon experience, tally-ho coaching 
began to be a Philadelphia fad of the very exclusives. 
Immediately afterward a crack coach was secured, and 
six large and spirited horses were used instead of four, 
and Oak Hall employees, dressed in the style of the 
most ultra coaching set. traversed the country in every 

98 



A Great Modern Merchant 

direction, scattering advertising matter to the music of 
the horn. Sometimes they would be a week on a trip. 
No wonder Oak HaU flourished. It was kept in the 
very front of the procession all the time. 

A little later, in the yachting season, the whole town 
was attracted and amused by processions and scatter- 
ings of men, each wearing a wire body frame that sup- 
ported a thin staff from which waved a wooden burgee, 
or pointed flag, reminding them of Oak Hall. Nearly 
two hundred of these prototypes of the "Sandwich 
man" were often out at one time. 

But it was not only in the quick catching of a novel 
advertising thought that the new house was making 
history ; in newspaper advertising, it was even further 
in advance. The statements of store news were crisp 
and unhackneyed, and the first artistic illustrations ever 
put into advertisements were used there. So high was 
the grade of this picture-work that art schools regularly 
clipped the illustrations as models ; and the world- 
famous Shakespearean scholar. Dr. Horace Howard 
Furness, treasured the original sketches of "The Seven 
Ages" as among the most interesting in his unique col- 
lection. 

As a storekeeper he was just as original. It was the 
universal rule in those days, in the clothing trade, not 
to mark the prices plainly on the goods that were for 
sale. Within rather liberal bounds, the salesman got 
what he could from the customer. Mr. W'anamaker, 
after a time, instituted at Oak Hall the plan of "but one 

... 99 

L. cr u. 



John Wanamaker 

price and that plainly marked,"' — the beginning of still 
another revolution in business methods. He saw to it 
that customers had prompt and careful attention. If a 
sale was missed, he required a written reason for it 
from the salesman. There was no haphazard business 
in that store, — nothing of the happy-go-lucky style. 
Each man must be alert, wide-awake, attentive, or there 
was no place for him at Oak Hall. 

ECOXOMICAL WAYS. 

And ]\Ir. Wanamakcr's habits of economy were never 
relaxed. It is told of him that, in the earlier days of 
Oak Hall, he used to gather up the short pieces of 
string that came in on parcels, make them into a bunch, 
and see that they were used when bundles were to be 
tied. He also had a habit of smoothing out old news- 
papers, and seeing that they were used as wrappers for 
such things as did not require a better grade of paper. 

A considerable portion of the trade of the new store 
came from people in the country districts. Mr. Wana- 
maker had a way of getting close to them and gaining 
their good will. An old employee of the firm says : 
"John used to put a lot of chestnuts in his pocket along 
in the fall and winter, and, when he had one of these 
countrymen in tow. he'd slip a few of the nuts into the 
visitor's hand and both w'ould go munching about the 
store." Another salesman of the old house says : "If 
\\c saw a man come in chewing gum, we knew it was of 
no use trying to sell him anything. You see, he was 

100 



A Great Modem Merchant 

sure to be as green as grass and fully convinced that 
we were all watching for a chance to cheat him. John 
said it was all nonsense ; that such people came on pur- 
pose to buy, and were the easiest people in the world to 
sell to. And he would prove it. He would chew gum 
with them, and talk farm or crops or cattle with them. 
They'd buy of him every time. But none of us could 
ever get his knack of dealing with countrymen." 

There it is. This young merchant understood human 
nature. He i)ut his customer at ease. He showed in- 
terest in the things that interested the farmer. He was 
frank and open with him, and just familiar enough not 
to lose a bit of the respect and deference that superi- 
ority commands. 

CHRISTIAN PHILANTHROPIST. 

Meantime Mr. Wanamaker was interesting himself 
in Sunday school work, as well as in Christian Associa- 
tion matters. He established a Sunday school in one of 
the most unpromising of the down-town sections, and 
there built up the largest school of the kind in the 
^vorld, — with a membership of something like three 
thousand. This school proved a powerful factor for 
good. 

He was also active in general philanthropic work. 
He was making his mark on almost every phase of the 
city's life. Such activity and forceful good sense are 
alwavs sure to make their mark. 

When the great store was started in 1ST 7 at Thir- 

101 



John VVanamaker 

tecnth and Market streets, Mr. Wanamaker announced 
certain fundamental principles that should mark the 
course of the enterprise. The one-price thought was 
continued, of course. But he went far beyond that. He 
announced that those zvho bought goods of him were to 
he satisfied zvith ivhat they bought, or have their money 
back. 

To the old mercantile houses of the city this seemed 
like committing business suicide. It was also unheard 
of that special effort should be made to add to the com- 
fort of visitors, to make them welcome whether they 
cared to buy or not, to induce them to look upon the 
store as a meeting-place, a rendezvous, a resting-place, 
— a sort of city home, almost. Yet these things that 
were thought to forebode so much of disaster to the old 
generation of merchants, have completely overturned 
the methods of retailing throughout the United States. 
That "Wanamaker way" is now almost the universal 
way. 

When asked what he attributed his great success to. 
Mr. Wanamaker said: "To thinking, toiling, trying 
and trusting in God." Surely, his life has been crowded 
with work. Even now, when wealth and honor have 
been heaped upon him. he is likely to be the earliest man 
at the store, and the last to leave at night, — just as when 
a boy at Tower Hall. 

HIS ADVICE TO YOUNG MERCHANTS. 

He cares little for money, and even less for fame. 
102 



A Great Modem Merchant 

When I asked him to name the essentials of success, he 
repHed, curtly : '1 might write a volume trying to tell 
you how to succeed. One way is to not be above taking 
a hint from a master. I don't care to tell why I suc- 
ceeded, because 1 object to talking about myself. It 
isn't modest." 

Mr. Wanamaker is epigrammatical at times. I asked 
him if a man with means but no experience would be 
safe in embarking in a mercantile business, and he re- 
plied, quickly : — 

"A man can't drive a horse who has never seen one. 
No ; a man must have training, must know how to buy 
and sell ; only experience teaches that." 

When I asked him whether the small tradesmen has 
any "show" to-day against the great department stores, 
he said : — 

"All of the great stores were small at one time. Small 
stores will keep on developing into big ones. You 
wouldn't expect a man to put an iron band around his 
business in order to prevent expansion, would you? 
There are, according to statistics, a greater number of 
prosperous small stores in the city than ever before. 
What better proof do you want ? 

"The department store is a natural prodi:ct, evolved 
from conditions that exist as a result of fixed trade 
laws. Executive capacity, combined with command of 
capital, finds opportunity in these conditions, which are 
harmonious with the irresistible determination of the 
producer to meet the consumer directly, and of mcr- 



John Wanamaker 

chandise to find distribution along the hnes of least 
resistance. Reduced prices stimulate consumption and 
increased employment, and it is sound opinion that the 
increased employment created by the department stores 
goes to women without curtailing that of men. In gen- 
eral it may be stated that large retail stores have short- 
ened the hours of labor, and by systematic discipline 
have made it lighter. The small store is harder upon 
the sales-person and clerk. The effects upon the char- 
acter and capacity of the employees are good. A well- 
ordered, modern retail store is a means of education in 
spelling, writing, English language, system and method. 
Thus it becomes to the ambitious and serious employees, 
in a small way, a university, in which character is 
broadened by intelligent instruction practically applied." 
A feature of his make-up that has contributed largely 
to the many-sidedness of his success is his ability to 
concentrate his thoughts. No matter how trivial the 
subject that is brought before him, he takes it up with 
the seeming of one who has nothing else on his mind. 
While under the cares of his stores, — retail and whole- 
sale, — of the Sunday school, of the postmaster-general- 
ship, of vast railroad interests, of extensive real estate 
transactions, and while he was weighing the demands 
of leading citizens that he accept a nomination for 
mayor of Philadelphia, I have seen him take up the 
case of a struggling church society, or the troubles of 
an individual, with the interest and patience that would 
1)0 oxiKH-lrd nf a pastor or a professional adviser. He 

104 



A Great Modem Merchant 

is phenomenal in this respect. Probably not one young 
man in a thousand could develop this trait so remarka- 
bly, but any young man can try for it, and he will be all 
the better and stronger for so trying. 

In one physical particular Mr. Wanamakcr is now 
very remarkable; he can work continually for a long 
time without sleep and without evidence of strain, and 
make up for it by good rest afterward. This, perhaps, 
is because of his lack of nervousness. He is always 
calm. Under the greatest stress he never loses his head. 
I fancy that this comes from training, as well as from 
inheritance. It adds amazingly to the power that any 
man can assert. It is certainly a tendency that can be 
cultivated. 

CONDITIONS THEN AND NOW. 

I have heard it said a hundred times that Mr. Wana- 
maker started when success was easy. Here is what he 
says himself about it : — 

"I think I could succeed as well now as in the past. 
It seems to me that the conditions of to-day are even 
more favorable to success than when I was a boy. 
There are better facilities for doing business, and more 
business to be done. Information in the shape of books 
and newspapers is now in the reach of all, and the 
young man has two opportunities where he formerly 
had one. 

"We are much more afraid of combinations of capital 
than we have any reason for being. Competition regu- 

105 



John Wanamaker 

lates everything of that kind. No organization can 
make immense profits for any length of time without 
its field soon swarming with competitors. It requires 
brain and muscle to manage any kind of business, and 
the same elements which have produced business suc- 
cess in the past will produce it now, and will always 
produce it." 

I have heard others marvel at the unbroken upward 
course of Mr. Wanamaker's career, and lament that 
they so often make mistakes. But hear him : — 

"Who does not make mistakes? Why, if I were to 
think only of the mistakes I have made, I should be 
miserable indeed." 

THE VALUE OF "pUSH/" 

He has exceptional skill in getting the best that is 
possible out of his helpers. On one occasion he said : — 

"We are very foolish people if we shut our ears and 
eyes to what other people are doing. I often pick up 
things from strangers. As you go along, pick up sug- 
gestions here and there, jot them down and send them 
along. Even writing them down helps to concentrate 
your mind on that part of the work. You need not be 
afraid of overstepping the mark and stepping on some- 
body's heels. The more we push each other, the better." 

This is another Wanamaker characteristic : he wants 
everyone associated with him to "push." Stagnation 
and death are very nearly synonymous words in his 
vocabulary. 

106 



A Great Modern Merchant 

Out of it all stands a man who has been monument- 
ally successful as a merchant and in general business ; 
a man who has helped his fellow-man while helping 
himself. 

The lesson of such a life should be precious to every 
young man. It teaches the value of untiring effort, 
of economy, of common sense applied to common busi- 
ness. It gives one more proof that no height of success 
is, in this country, beyond the reasonable ambition of 
any youth who desires to succeed. 

I have no doubt that thousands on thousands of 
young men in the United States are to-day better 
equipped in almost every way than was John Wana- 
maker when he began business for himself in 1861. 
Very likely, not one in a hundred of them will make a 
mark of any significance. The fault will be their own, 
— they will not have the compelling force that comes 
from "thinking, toiling, trying," and the serene confi- 
dence that then comes from "trusting" a guiding power 
through every change of circumstances, 



107 



VII 

A British Boy Wins Fortune and 
Title by American Business 
Methods. 

THJi^ lower bay was charged with subdued ex- 
citement everywhere as the "Water Witch" 
hove to alongside Sir Thomas J. Lipton's 
"Erin,"' and I stepped aboard. The hum of 
preparation for the great race was heard above the lap- 
ping waves. Fresh and keen came the breezes from the 
snowy ridges of the ocean's breast. A thousand spreads 
of sail studded the bay, the great ships standing up in 
fixed majesty, the smaller vessels darting here and there 
in the wind, while right in the path of the sun's glare 
lay the green hull of the "Shamrock." Along the 
whitened shores beyond were hundreds of fishing craft 
dancing at their work, and in the ofiing were the smoke- 
stacks of the Atlantic liners. 

"Good morning !" came a cheery sailor's voice from 
the promenade deck. "Step right up here and you will 
get a better view of our little beauty." 

The voice belonged to Sir Thomas Lipton. and the 
"little beauty" was the dainty craft to which he had 
pinned his faith. The Scotch-Irish knight was as en- 

108 



Merchant and Cup Challenger 

thusiastic as a boy. With a cordial handshake, he led 
the way to the rail and pointed to the emerald swan 
below. 

'There she is," he tenderly exclaimed ; "the pride of 
a nation ; isn't she a picture !" His tone fairly caressed 
the graceful thing. I fully expected to see him clamber 
down the rope-way and go out to pet her, as the Arab is 
said to pet his steed, but he satisfied himself by gazing 
at her and talking about her. 

Confessedly, I was more interested in her owner than 
in the "Shamrock," but I was too diplomatic to show 
it, so I quite won my way into his heart by praising her. 

SIR THOM.\S WAS WON. 

"Sir Thomas," I said, "I can't say I hope she will 
win, but I hope she will come so close to it that she will 
turn us all green with envy !" 

"Ah, my boy, that's the spirit," he said : "that's why 
it's a pleasure to race against you Americans, You 
meet a fellow more than half way." 

The "Erin" is no less beautiful than the racer. With 
the "Shamrock's" pennant at the foremast and the Stars 
and Stripes flying from the after-pole, she is a model. 
Commodore Morgan says she is one of the three finest 
ocean-going yachts in the world. The Prince and Prin- 
cess of Wales visited her often, and gave signed photo- 
graphs of themselves to hang in the elegant cabin. 
Admiral Dewey's likeness hangs near the "Columbia's.'' 
The appointments of the yacht are worthy of the Wal- 

109 



Sir Thomas Lipton 

florf-Astoria. Sir Thomas never leaves her, he told 
nic, except to go aboard the "Shamrock." I could not 
blame him. Finding a pair of upholstered steamer 
chairs forward, we dropped into them. 

The conversation drifted into the early struggles of 
the baronet, to the days when he did not own a floating 
palace or an international cup challenger. 

WHEN HE BORROWED FIVE CENTS. 

"I remember, as if it were yesterday,"' said Sir 
Tiiomas, "liow utterly hopeless my financial condition 
seemed to be when I was a boy of fifteen in New York, 
I had run away from home to see the world. My ex- 
jieriences were anything but pleasant, wdthout work as 
I was, a stranger in a great city. I got used to living 
on a few cents a day, but when it came to such a pinch 
that I couldn't buy a five-cent stamp to carry a letter to 
the old folks in Glasgow. I very nearly gave up. I 
really think that decided me to go back. It accentuated 
my homesickness. I thought of the prodigal son. I 
borrowed five cents for that letter, and resolved to get 
back as soon as a chance offered. I can tell you I was 
glad when I once more set foot on the other side. I 
had refrained from telling my people how hard up I 
had been. This w^as largely a matter of pride with me, 
but another consideration was their feelings. I would 
do anything rather than distress them. So I stepped 
up, on my arrival, as jauntily as you ever saw a lad, and 
when a proposition ^\'as made to me b\' my father, soon 

1 10 



Merchant and Cup Challenger 

after my hoiiic-coniing, to set me up in a small grocery, 
I jumped at the chance." 

"Was that the beginning of your fortune ?" 
"Yes. I made money from the start. I put in prac- 
tice what I had seen abroad, — such as displaying goods 
attractively in windows, keeping the place as neat as a 
pin, and waiting personally on my customers. Every 
dollar that I earned I saved, — not that I really loved 
money myself. That was not my inspiration, — it was 
my father and mother." 

AMERICAN BUSINESS METHODS GAVE HIM HIS START. 

"I am willing to admit that it was my admiration for 
American methods that gave me my start," said Sir 
Thomas, as he leaned against the tafifrail. "It was the 
application of proper methods to conditions that needed 
them. These applications and conditions are always 
with us. The world is full of them. A man only needs 
to know both when he sees them. 

"We have all marveled at the prosperity of America, 
but, years ago, I felt that it would come. But your 
country is still young, and has many more victories to 
win. I may say the same thing of all the world. Every 
country has a future still. Honest competition will still 
give all the nations a chance for supremacy. It only 
remains for the people to catch those chances, and not 
let them pass by. If I were a poor man to-day, I would 
be just as happy ; I know that I could start anew and 
win. 

1 1 ] 



Sir Thomus Lipton 

"Honest application is the stimulus of all effort. 
That, to me, is the science of achievement. Whenever 
you find an opportunity to do something that will bene- 
fit you, do not fail to take advantage of it. Often, the 
most trying periods will produce the best results. For 
instance, fifteen years ago, while sailing down the Afri- 
can coast in a steamer which carried, as the bulk of its 
cargo, my teas, we encountered a terrific storm. The 
steamer had to be lightened. At one time it even looked 
as if we were going to be wrecked ; but, really, I 
thought more of the loss of that tea than of anything 
else. I had it brought on deck, with the idea of using 
it for advertising purposes, if for nothing else. On each 
case I had painted, in large black letters, 'Lipton's Tea,' 
and then cast it overboard, dreaming that it would float 
to the African coast, and be picked up by someone who 
had not heard of the product before. Sure enough, it 
w-as." 

HE OWNS NEARLY FIVE HUNDRED STORES. 

"Your business must be an enormous one now, Sir 
Thomas, from the stories in the English papers about 
the organization of your enterprises into a limited com- 
pany." 

"Yes, I have a good deal to attend to," he said, smil- 
ing. "I have sixty stores in London alone, and four 
hundred and twent>- the world over, most of them being 
in the British Isles. I sell all food products except beef, 
which T have never handled. T own thousands of acres 

1 12 



Merchant and Cup Challenger 

on the island of Ceylon, where I am the largest individ- 
ual land-owner. On this land I grow tea, coffee and 
cocoa, and employ several thousand natives to cultivate 
and ship it. I have warehouses all over Asia, and 
branch stores in Hamburg and BerUn. In Chicago I 
have a packing-house where I sometimes kill three 
thousand hogs in a day. So, you see, my enterprises 
are pretty well scattered over the earth. 

"How many employees have I? Well, all in all, I 
have somewhat over ten thousand, and a nicer lot of 
employees you never saw. I have never had a strike, 
and never expect to have one, for I make it my personal 
duty to see that my men are all comfortably fixed. We 
live together in perfect harmony." 

"And what advice would you give young men who 
are about to start out for themselves, Sir Thomas?" 

"That's a broad question," laughed the great man. 
"It would take me some time to answer it properly. 
But, to begin with, I say that hard work is the cardinal 
requisite for success. I always feel that I cannot im- 
press that fact too strongly upon young men. And 
then a person's heart and soul must be in his work. 
He must be earnest, above all, and willing to give his 
wliole time to his work, if necessary. Honesty, it goes 
without saying, is necessary, and if you want to be 
wholly successful, you must do unto others as you 
would have them do unto you. If you don't, they will 
be sure to retaliate, when you least expect it. If young 
men would follow these rules, they would get along 



Sir Thomas Lipton 

very well; but few of them will. If your article can 
inspire any of them to harder work, its mission will be 
blessed." 

CHANCES FOR YOUNG MEN TO-DAY. 

I inquired whether the chances for young men in 
Great Britain are equal to those in America. 

"That is a difficult question to answer," said Sir 
Thomas. "Being a merchant, I can speak of trade 
opportunities, but in the professions I really do not 
know which side of the Atlantic is the better. Litera- 
ture, of course, knows no country ; neither does art. In 
the legal profession, the chances are two to one in favor 
of the United States. You make more of your lawyers 
there ; you utilize them in legislation, in places of trust, 
while abroad their duties are limited. A good physician 
in England will probably make as much money as your 
leading ones here. Taking it altogether, there seems to 
be as good a chance for professional men on one side 
as on the other. The British isles are small compared 
with the states, but young men are going out every day 
into new British fields, just as your young men are 
pushing out into every part of your magnificent stretch 
of country. 

""thrift is the true secret of success." 

"When men tell you," continued the baronet, "that 
there are no more chances in this world, tell them that 
they are mistaken. Your country abounds in so many 



Merchant and Cup Challenger 

tliat 1 marvel why any American cares to leave its 
shores. There are thousands of manufactures that are 
still in an imperfect state ; there are millions of acres 
that are still to be made productive ; there are, seem- 
ingly, countless achievements yet to be undertaken. 
What I say is best proven by the international yacht 
races. Every year we race we believe that we have 
produced the best possible boat, but we find, after the 
race is over, that we can improve it in some respect. If 
all men would use their minds in the same way that the 
builders of these big yachts use theirs, what a world of 
improvement would be made! After every race, we 
produce something better, something finer, — the result 
of brains and workmanship, — and we are not satisfied 
yet. 

"I have often been asked to define the true secret of 
success. It is thrift in all its phases, and, principally, 
thrift as applied to saving. A young man may have 
many friends, but he will find none so steadfast, so con- 
stant, so ready to respond to his wants, so capable of 
pushing him ahead, as a little leather-covered book, 
with the name of a bank on its cover. Saving is the 
first great principle of all success. It creates indepen- 
dence, it gives a young man standing, it fills him with 
vigor, it stimulates him with the proper energy ; in fact, 
it brings to him the best part of any success, — happi- 
ness and contentment. If it were possible to inject the 
quality of saving into every boy, we would have a great 
many more real men. 



Sir Thomas Lipton 

"Success depends also on character to carry it 
through Hfc. 

"Knowledge should be a compound of what we de- 
rive from books, and what we extract, by our observa- 
tion, from the living world around us. Both of these 
are necessary to the well-informed man; and, of the 
two, the last is, by far, the most useful for the practical 
purposes of life. The man who can combine the teach- 
ings of books with strong and close observation of life, 
deserves the name of a well-informed man, and pre- 
sents a model worthy of imitation." 

The great passion of Sir Thomas's life, yachting, has 
been a costly indulgence for him, yet he has inadver- 
tently secured more popularity through his efforts to 
win the "America's" Cup than would have been possible 
in any other way. The three "Shamrocks" have cost 
him. all told, reckoning the expenses of sailing the races 
as part of the grand total, more than one million dollars. 



116 



VIII 

A Self-made Man who Strives to 
Give others a Chance 



^ £ I F a bootblack does all the good he possibly can 
• ■ for his fellowmen, his life has been just as 



I 



successful as that of the millionaire who helps 
thousands." 
That was what Darius Ogden Mills said when I 
asked him to give me his idea of a successful life. His 
next reply was quite as epigrammatic. 

"What, Mr. Mills, do you consider the keynote of 



success 



"Work," he replied, quickly and emphatically. 
"Work develops all the good there is in a man; idle- 
ness all the evil. Work sharpens all his faculties and 
makes him thrifty; idleness makes him lazy and a 
spendthrift. Work surrounds a man with those whose 
habits are industrious and honest; in such society a 
weak man develops strength, and a strong man is made 
stronger. Idleness, on the other hand, is apt to throw 
a man into the company of men whose only object in 
life usually is the pursuit of unwholesome and demoral- 
izing diversions." 

Air. Mills is quite averse to being interviewed, but 



Darius Ogden Mills 

when I told liini tliat his words would be carried to 
many thousands of young men, and probably do con- 
siderable t^ood in the way of encouragement and in- 
spiration, he consented to a brief talk. 

AN AGE OF OPPORTUNITIES. 

I asked j\Ir. Mills when he would be ready for me, 
and he replied : — 

"I am just as ready now as I ever will be. There is 
no time like the present." 

Like an oasis in the desert is the experience of a man, 
the accumulation of whose wealth has been on lines 
parallel with the conducive rather than counter to the 
welfare of mankind. This is what Mr. Mills says on 
the subject : — 

"A man can, in the accumulation of a fortune, be 
just as great a benefactor of mankind as in the distribu- 
tion of it. In organizing a great industry, one opens 
up fields of employment for a multitude of people who 
might otherwise be practically helpless, giving them 
not only a chance to earn a living for themselves and 
their families, but also to lay by a competency for old 
age. All honest, sober men, if they have half a chance, 
can do that ; but only a small percentage can ever be- 
come rich. Now the rich man, having acquired his 
wealth, knows better how to manage it than those 
under him would, and having actual possession, he has 
the power to hold the community of his employees and 
their interests together, and prevent disintegration, 

118 



Financier and Philanthropist 

which means disaster so mueh oftener to the employee 
than to the employer." 

Volumes of fascinating matter could he written of 
the career of Mr. Mills, but the purpose of this article 
is a talk with, rather than a talk about him. 

"To what formative influence do you attribute your 
material success, Mr. Mills ?" I asked. 

"I was taught very early that I would have to de- 
pend entirely upon myself; that my future lay in my 
own hands. I had that for a start, and it was a good 
one. I didn't waste any time bothering about succes- 
sion to w^ealth, which so often acts as a drag upon 
young men. Many persons waste the best years of 
their lives waiting for dead men's shoes; and, when 
they get them, find them entirely too big to wear grace- 
fully, simply because they have not developed them- 
selves to wear them. I have never accepted an inheri- 
tance or anything but goodwill from my family or rela- 
tives." 

THE FIRST HUNDRED DOLLARS. 

"As a rule, the small inheritance, which, to a boy, 
would seem large, has a tendency to lessen his efforts, 
and is a great damage to him in the way of acquiring 
habits necessary to success. Above all, no one can 
acquire a fortune unless he makes a start ; and the 
habit of thrift, which he learns in saving his first hun- 
dred dollars, is of inestimable value later on. It is not 
the money, but the habit which counts. There is no 
one so helpless as a man who is 'broke,' no matter how 

119 



Darius Ogden Mills 

capable he may be, and there is no habit so detrimental 
to his reputation among business men as that of bor- 
rowing small sums of money. This cannot be too 
emphatically impressed upon young men. Another 
thing is that none but the wealthy, and very few* of 
them, can afford the indulgence of expensive habits ; 
how much less then can a man with only a few dollars 
in his pockets? More young men are ruined by the 
expense of smoking than in any other way. The money 
thus laid out would make them independent, in many 
cases, or at least would give them a good start. A 
young man should be warned by the melancholy exam- 
ple of those who have been ruined by smoking, and 
avoid it." 

TRAITS OF INFLUENTIAL MEN. 

"What marked traits have the influential men, with 
whom you have been associated, possessed, which most 
impressed you?" 

"A habit of thinking and acting for themselves. No 
end of people are ruined by taking the advice of others. 
This may answer temporarily, but in the long run it is 
sure to be disastrous. Any man who hasn't ability to 
judge for himself would better get a comfortable clerk- 
ship somewhere, letting some one of more ambition and 
ability do the thinking necessary to run the business." 

"Are the opportunities for making money as numer- 
ous to-day as they were when you started in business?" 

"Yes. the progress of science and invention has in- 

120 



Financier and liiihinthropist 

creased the opportunities a thousandfold, and a man 
can find them wherever he seeks them, in the United 
States in particular. It has caused the field of employ- 
ment of labor of all kinds to expand enormously, thus 
creating opportunities which never existed before. It 
is no longer necessary for a man to go to foreign coun- 
tries or distant parts of his own country to make money. 
Opportunities come to him in every quarter. There is 
hardly a point in the country so obscure that it has not 
felt the revolutionizing influence of commercial enter- 
prise. Probably railroads and electricity are the chief 
instruments in this respect. Other industries follow 
closely in their wake." 

SOME SECRETS OF SUCCESS. 

"In what part of the country do you think the best 
chances for young men may be found?" 

"The best place for a young man to make money is 
the town in which he was born and educated. There 
he learns all about everybody, and everybody learns 
about him. This is to his advantage if he bears a good 
character, and to the advantage of his townspeople if he 
bears a bad one. While a young man is growing up, 
he unconsciously absorbs a vast deal of knowledge of 
people and affairs, which would be equal to money if 
he only has the judgment to avail himself of it. A 
knowledge of men is the prime secret of business suc- 
cess. Upon reflection, how absurd it is for a man to 
leave a town where he knows everything and every- 

121 



Darius Ogden Mills 

l)0(ly, and go to some distant point where he doesn't 
know anything about anybody, or anything, and expect 
to begin on an equal footing with the people there who 
are thoroughly acquainted." 

"What lesson do you consider best for young men to 
learn?" 

"The lesson of humility ; — not in the sense of being 
servile or undignified, but in that of paying due respect 
to men who are their superiors in the way of experi- 
ence, knowledge and position. Such a lesson is akin 
to that of discipline. Members of the royal families of 
Europe are put in subordinate positions in the navies or 
armies of their respective countries, in order that they 
may receive the training necessary to qualify them to 
take command. They must first know how to obey, if 
they would control others." 

THE BOTTOM OF THE LADDER. 

"In this country, it is customary for the sons of the 
presidents of great railroads, or other companies, to 
begin at the bottom of the ladder and work their way 
up step by step, just the same as any other boy in the 
employ of the corporation. This course has become 
imperatively necessary in the United States, where each 
great business has become a profession in itself. Most 
of the big machine shops number among their em- 
ployees, scions of old families who carry dinner pails, 
and work with files or lathes, the same as anyone else. 
Such shoulder-to-shoulder experience is invaluable to 

122 



Financier and Philanthropist 

a man who is destined to command, because he not only 
masters the trade technically, but learns all about the 
men he works with and qualifies himself to grapple 
with labor questions which may arise. 

"There is no end of conspicuous examples of the 
wisdom of this system in America. There are also 
many instances of disaster to great industrial concerns 
due to the inexperience or the lack of tact of men placed 
suddenly in control." 

"What is the responsibility of wealth, Mr. Mills?" 
"A man must learn not to think too much of money. 
It should be considered as a means and not an end, and 
the love for it should never be permitted to so warp a 
man's mind as to destroy his interest in progressive 
ideas. Making money is an education, and the wide 
experience thus acquired teaches a man discrimination 
in both men and projects, where money is under con- 
sideration. \^ery few men who make their own money 
use it carelessly. Most good projects that fail owe 
their failure to bad business management, rather than 
to lack of intrinsic merit. An inventor may have a 
very good thing, and plenty of capital may be en- 
listed, but if a man not acquainted with the peculiar 
line, or one who is not a good salesman or financier be 
employed as manager, the result is disastrous. A 
man should spend his money in a way that tends to 
advance the best interests of society in the countn,- he 
lives in, or in his own neighborhood at least. There 



Dcirius Ogden Mills 

is only one thing that is a greater harm to the com- 
munity than a rich spendthrift, and that is a miser." 

A WORD ABOUT CHEAP HOTELS. 

"How did you happen to establish the system of 
hotels which bear your name, Mr. Mills?" 

"I had been looking around for several years to find 
something to do that would be for the good of the com- 
munity. My mind was largely on other matters, but it 
occurred to me that the hotel project was the best, and I 
immediately went to work at it. My purpose was to 
do the work on so large a scale that it would be appre- 
ciated and spread all over the country, for as the 
sources of education extend, we find more and more 
need of assisting men who have a disposition for de- 
cency and good citizenship. The mechanic is well paid, 
and the man who has learned to labor is much more 
independent than he who is prepared for a profession, 
science or other objects in life that call for higher edu- 
cation. Clerks commencing at small salaries need good 
surroundings and economy to give themselves a start. 
Such are the men for whom the hotels were estab- 
lished." 



T24 



IX 

Thrift, the Secret of a Fortune Built 
in a Single Lifetime. 



V 



ERY few great fortunes have been acquired by 
one man, or within the Hmits of a single life- 
time. The vast wealth of the Vanderbilts, 
the Astors, and many others, has accumulated 
through several generations. It is seldom, indeed, that 
a fortune like that of Russell Sage is amassed by one 
man. For years, the newspapers of the country have 
been filled with stories of his eccentricities. 

When I called at the great banker's office, I found it 
very hard to obtain an audience with Mr. Sage, even 
though I had an introduction to him. He has so often 
been the victim of cranks, and has so many callers at 
his office, that he has been obliged to deny himself to 
all alike. He finally decided to see me. I found him 
seated at an old flat-topped desk, looking over the 
stock reports of the day, and I was surprised at the 
extreme simplicity of all his surroundings. The fur- 
nishings of the room looked as if they might have seen 
service before the Civil War, and, upon later inquiry, 
I learned that most of the chairs and the desk itself 
have been in use by Mr. Sage for more than twenty- 

1^5 



Russell Sage 

five years. He has become so attached to them that he 
cannot think of discarding them for more modern in- 
ventions. Mr. Sage is smooth-faced, and his hair is 
thin and gray. His clothes are fashioned in the style 
of thirty years ago, but of good material, and well 
kept. His shoulders are bent with care and age, but his 
face has a good color, and a happy smile that betokens 
health and a peaceful mind. 

"I have come to ask you to tell me the story of your 
life," I said, "for I am sure it must be of great interest." 

HE BEGAN AS A GROCERY CLERK. 

Mr. Sage smiled. "I don't know about its being of 
interest. It is very simple and commonplace to me. 
You know I began as a grocery clerk, in a country 
town. That is a very humble beginning, I'm sure." 

"Yes, but it's the beginning that counts," I said; 
"not the end." 

"You are right," replied the financier. "Well, when 
I was even younger than you are, I received a dollar 
a week for working from early morning until late at 
night, but I was well satisfied with my lot, because I 
knew that it was bound to lead to better things. So I 
worked my very best, and saved my wages, which were 
slowly increased as I went along, and finally I had 
enough money to start a little store for myself. When 
I was twenty-one years old. I had a store of my own, 
and I made a success of it, too." He smiled, as he re- 
membered those early days. 

126 



Specialist in Finance 

"But how did you happen to come to New York?" I 
asked. 

"Oh, I was ambitious," laughed Mr. Sage. "Like 
most boys, I thought there was no other place like a 
city for success, and I finally sold my country store 
when I was still very young, and came to New York. 
I started in as an office-boy, at very low wages, and, 
from that day on, I worked myself up and up, until 
I finally became a financier on my own account. It 
took a long time, though. It wasn't all accomplished 
in a day; though, when I came to New York, I ex- 
pected to be rich in two or three years. I was very 
much like other boys, you see. They all expect to get 
rich in a day." 

"But some of them never get rich," I said. 

"Well, it's their own fault if they don't succeed," 
said the financier. "Surely, everyone has as good a 
chance as I had. I don't think there could be a poorer 
opportunity for a boy to rise. The trouble is that most 
of them are not very anxious to rise. If they find them- 
selves wealthy some morning they are glad, of course ; 
but they are not willing to work and make themselves 
rich." 

NO LUCK IX HIS ACHIEVEMENT. 

"Some say that it is all luck," I ventured to suggest. 

"Oh, pshaw!" said Mr. Sage, with great disgust. 
"There's no such thing as luck, I'm sure there was 
none of it about my career. I know just how I earned 

127 



Russell Sage 

every penny, and the reason for it, and I never got 
anything I didn't work for. I never knew anyone to 
obtain lasting wealth without lots of hard work." 

"Do you think there are as good opportunities for 
getting rich to-day as there were thirty years ago, or 
when you made your start, Mr. Sage?" 

"Undoubtedly. I think there are even greater oppor- 
tunities, for new industries are being established all 
the time, and there are broader fields to work in. But 
then, the old fields of business are not overworked, 
by any means. I always say that there is room for 
good men anywhere and at any time. I don't think 
there can be ever too many of them. It is true that 
there are many applicants for every place in New York, 
but if I were unable to get a place in an eastern city, I 
should go west, for there are great opportunities there 
for everyone." 

"People say, though, that the west is not what it is 
supposed to be/' I remarked. 

"Yes, there are always pessimists," said Mr. Sage. 
"The people who say the west has no opportunities arc 
the same persons who used to call it foolish for any 
young man to come to New York. When I decided 
to come here, I was told on every side that I would re- 
gret my action ; but I never have. Some people never 
see opportunities in anything, and they never get along. 
I didn't see any very great opportunity ahead of me 
when I came to New York, but I knew that, if I had a 
chance. I could make one. I knew that there are alwavs 

128 




CHILDHOOD 



Specialist in Finance 

openings for energetic, hard-working fellows, and I 
was right." 

STRICT HONESTY IS NECESSARY. 

"Of course, you believe that strict honesty is es- 
sential to success, Mr Sage? I've heard many people 
say that honesty doesn't pay, especially in Wall street." 

"That is a foolish question," said the financier. "It 
is absurd to imagine that it pays to be dishonest, what- 
ever your business or profession. Do you suppose, if 
I had been dishonest in any dealings when I started out, 
that I would be worth anything to-day?" 

"What do you think of the chances for country boys 
in a great city like New York to-day, Mr. Sage ?" 

"I think they are as great as ever. Employers arc 
on the lookout for bright young men, and I believe 
that they would prefer that they come from the coun- 
try, provided there is no danger of their becoming 
dissipated. I think that is the only thing men have 
against country fellows, and there are many things in 
their favor. I think an earnest, ambitious, hard-work- 
ing boy from the country has a splendid chance of be- 
coming somebody. There are much greater opportuni- 
ties for him to exercise his good qualities, and the 
reward of his enterprise is much larger. The same 
energetic labor that would make a man worth twenty - 
five thousand dollars in a small town would be very 
likely to make him worth a hundred thousand or so in 
a great city, and all on account of the wider field." 

129 



Russell Sage 

"To what do you owe your wonderful vitality?" I 
asked. Mr. Sage smiled before answering me, 

"I never smoke, I never drink any liquors, I retire 
early, and get up early, and take care of myself in 
every possible way," he said. "Don't you think I ought 
to be healthy ? I have always taken care of myself, and 
I think I've proved that hard work is not bad for one's 
health. In fact, I think that work is the best thing I 
know of for improving a man's constitution, for it 
makes a good appetite, and encourages digestion. It 
isn't work that ruins so many men. It's the wine they 
drink, and the late hours they keep, and their general 
dissipation. I expect to be at my desk for many years 
to come, and just because I've taken good care of 
mvself." 



.30 



X 

Cut Out for a Banker, He Rose 
from Errand Boy to Secretary 
of the U.S. Treasury. 

^ ^ TT N my own career, I have learned that varied 
I experience in early youth is often of great 
-^ value in after life. My schooldays ended 
when I was fourteen years old, and I be- 
gan work as a mail agent on the Rome, Water- 
town and Ogdensburg Railroad. I do not mean to say 
that, when I stopped school, my education ceased, for 
it was after 1850 that my character received its greatest 
development. I was but poorly satisfied with my work 
as mail agent, although it taught me much that I didn't 
know before, and I kept my eyes open for something 
better. In a short time, the death of the president of 
the United States resulted in the loss of my first posi- 
tion. The village postmaster was removed from office, 
and, of course, my dismissal foUow^ed. This was dis- 
couraging, but I re-entered the village academy to pur- 
sue, for a time, my studies. There was in our town a 
small bank, and this institution had always possessed a 
fascination for my youthful mind. T used to watch the 
merchants going in with bags of gold and bundles of 



Lyman Gage 

greenbacks, and coming out again with only account 
books in their hands. 1 knew that the bank had some 
connection with the government, and, being greatly im- 
pressed with its dignified appearance and the actions of 
its officers, I was seized with a desire to work within 
its walls. When I applied for a position, I learned that 
there was no likelihood of a vacancy occurring in the 
near future ; so, when I was offered a place in a local 
stationery shop at a salary of a hundred dollars a year, 
I accepted with alacrity. The wages were small, in- 
deed, but in this shop I was privileged to become 
acquainted with general literature, and spent many 
hours with the great authors. So the months with the 
stationer were not without profit. 

"After a time there was a rival bank established in 
the town, and I was offered the position of 'messenger 
and general assistant,' at the same old salary of a hun- 
dred dollars a year. I didn't hesitate, but left the store 
to enter the bank, and so began my career in the finan- 
cial world. My duties as 'general assistant' were many 
and varied. I was janitor, first of all, and attended to 
the heating of the building. I made many trips every 
day to the cellar for coal, and I used to think the offi- 
cials most extravagant when they insisted on a fire 
when the days were comparatively warm. I w^as 
obliged to keep the front sidewalk clear of dirt in the 
summer and of snow in the winter, and had to sweep 
the floor of the banking room daily, and dust the desks 
and furniture frequently. 



A Statesmanlike l^'iiiancier 

WHEN VOL- START IN LIFE IN A STRANGE CITY, DO NOT 
EXPECT ''soft snaps/' 

"As the 'messenger' of the bank, I was sent around 
town with notices of notes which had fallen due, and 
with drafts which had been sent to the bank for collec- 
tion from other cities. All these duties kept me fairly 
busy, but I still had time to learn something of banking 
as a business, and of the transactions which took place 
behind the counters. As the business of the bank in- 
creased, the teller and the bookkeeper welcomed my 
assistance in their departments ; and, when summer 
came, and there were no fires to make and no snow to 
shovel, I had opportunity to learn most of the details of 
the business. After a while I was intrusted with the 
work of the teller or of the bookkeeper when either was 
kept at home by illness, and at the end of my first year 
I felt that I was indeed 'cut out for a banker.' 

"I had so good an opinion of my accomplishments 
that I demanded of my employers an increase of salary 
for my second year. They replied that I was receiving 
all they could aflford to pay, and I immediately resigned. 
At this time, nearly every boy in Central New York had 
the 'Western Fever,' and, after I left the bank, I de- 
veloped a very bad case. I determined to start for Chi- 
cago to make my fortune, and arrived there one day in 
1855, with few dollars and no friends. I had my mind 
made up to be a banker, and supposed that it would be 
easier to find an opening in the western city than it had 

»33 



Lyman Gage 

been in my native village. But when I made the 
rounds, I found that no embryo banker was needed. I 
could not afford to be idle, so I determined to accept 
the first position which should offer, whether or not it 
was to my liking. It does not pay for a young man 
starting in life in a strange city to be too particular 
about what he does for a living. I soon found a place 
as bookkeeper for a lumber company. The panic of 
1857 effected even bookkeepers, however; and, when 
the firm found it necessary to reduce expenses, I gladly 
accepted appointment as night watchman. 

"I had been in Chicago three years before good for- 
tune seemed to come my way. I had visited every 
banking house several times in search of a position, for 
I was convinced that banking ought to be my career, 
and I was a familiar applicant to all the officials. On 
the third of August, 1858, a date I shall always remem- 
ber, I was summoned to the office of the Merchants' 
Loan and Trust Company, where my name was on file 
as a candidate for any position, however humble. 'Can 
you keep a set of books ?' asked Mr. Holt, the cashier. 
T can try,' was my answer. That isn't what we 
want,' said Mr. Holt; 'can you do it?' 'I can, if it 
can be done in twenty-three hours out of twenty-four,' 
I replied, and I was thereupon engaged at an annual 
salary of five hundred dollars. After working for so 
long at uncongenial employment with low wages, this 
opening made me very happy. I felt that my future 



A Statesmanlike Financier 

was assured, for I had obtained, at length, the long- 
desired standing-room in a Chicago bank. 

THE PUBLIC WOULD RATHER INVEST ITS MONEY IN MEN 
THAN IN FINE BUILDINGS. 

"The story of my further progress can be of little in- 
terest to those who are beginning Ufe in the financial 
world. My early preparation in the New York village 
was most useful, and, since I had also benefited from 
my experience with the world, my position was secure. 
If a young man has some preparation for his work, if 
he secures a proper opening, and if he behaves himself, 
there can be no question of his future. In two years 
after I entered the service of the Merchants' Loan and 
Trust Company, I was given the position of cashier, at 
an annual salary of two thousand dollars, and naturally 
I was encouraged to find that my efforts were appre- 
ciated. I enjoyed my work, and was more convinced 
than ever before that banking was the career for which 
I was best fitted by nature. 

"Every successful man started in a different way 
from that adopted by any other, and there is no rule 
which can be laid down as certain to win in the end. 
Some have received the benefit of a college training, 
and others have been self-educated. Some began life 
in other business and drifted into banking, and some 
were employed in financial houses from the verv begin- 
ning. It often happens that those who make the most 



Lyman Gage 

earnest efforts to succeed accomplish less than others 
who have had less preparation for the work. The 
prizes of life do not always come to the most deserving. 
IMany things must co-operate to bring great results. 
Innate ability, which schools cannot furnish, must find 
conjunction with conditions, circumstances, and oppor- 
tunities which lie outside of individual control. If you 
find a man great, distinguished, a business Saul among 
his brethren, do not worship him overmuch. Perhaps 
among the humble and unrecognized are a score or a 
hundred as worthy as he, to whom circumstances were 
unfavorable or opportunity did not come. 

"The public appreciates more and more the import- 
ance of investing money in men, not in buildings. 
When I hear of large gifts to erect magnificent halls at 
our colleges, I think what greater good would be ac- 
complished if that money were used to help a number 
of deserving young men and women through their col- 
lege courses. When these young people have finished 
their work in the world, they may each and all be able 
to erect fifty-thousand-dollar buildings for their alma 
maters. A certain generous-minded man once said to 
me, T have given money quite freely to help the dis- 
tressed, to soften the bitterness of helpless age, and to 
alleviate the condition of the unfortunate; but there 
was little or no inspiration in it. When, on the other 
hand, I have helped a bright boy to secure for him- 
self a good education, my imagination has become 
efi'ected. T have seen my dollars — won hv hard 

136 



A Statesmanlike Financier 

application, in sordid ways, — transmitted into intel- 
lectual agencies powerful to efifect the thoughts and 
feelings of generations which will live when I am 
dead.' This sentiment is becoming prevalent among 
the thoughtful men of America." 



13: 



XI 

A Young Millionaire not Afraid to 
Work in Overalls. 

A TALL, slender young man walked into the 
office of the master of motive power and 
construction, in the Grand Central Station, 
New York. He was dressed in clothes that 
showed marks of travel, and his face had a tired look. 
This was young Cornelius Vanderbilt, son of the head 
of the house of \"anderbilt, and great-grandson of his 
namesake, the founder of the Vanderbilt fortune. Cor- 
nelius had come to the office to report to the man 
under whom he is working, for the heir to the Vander- 
bilt millions was then serving his apprenticeship in the 
railroad business, and had to report the work he had 
accomplished, just like any other young mechanic on 
the road. Every clerk in the office stared at him, but 
the stare was affectionate, for every employee of the 
road has learned to like him. They have seen him 
with jacket and overalls, working in the yards and in 
the round-houses and machine-shops all along the 
system. 

"It was not a sudden determination which led me to 
go out on the road and study the practical side of the 

'38 



A Millionaire Apprentice 

railroad business," said young Cornelius Vanderbilt, 
in answer to my question as to his motive ; "I had long 
intended to do it, because I know that the best way to 
learn a business is to begin at the bottom and work up. 
So when Mr. Depew arranged for me to begin in this 
department, I gladly accepted the place. I have been 
out on the road, ofif and on, for several months, and 
feel that I have learned a great deal that I could never 
have learned in any other way." 

FROM THE FOUXDATIOX UP. 

"I have enjoyed the experience, too. I think I have 
had a natural inclination for mechanics all my life, and 
I enjoyed having to do with engines and the construc- 
tion of the road-bed. I am learning, gradually, of 
course, to build an engine, and to run one successfully. 
It won't be long before I can do that." 

"And what will you undertake when you have fin- 
ished with the construction and motive-power depart- 
ments?" I asked. 

"Well, I haven't planned that far ahead yet. but I 
hope, eventually, to know as much about the finances 
of the road as I do about the mechanics, and I also 
want to know^ something of the way in which the road 
is managed. .All this will take time, but I am deter- 
mined to give it all the time it needs. I think the ad- 
vantages to be derived from such a training are worth 
a great deal of time and work." 

"Does it seem like very hard work to you?" 



Cornelius Vanderbilt 

"No; you know, I'm very much interested in such 
things, and so I don't mind the work. I would much 
prefer working in the yards and round-houses to work- 
ing in the offices. It is much more to my taste." 

I asked Air. Vanderbilt whether he ever expected to 
run an engine attached to a train, and he said he had 
no idea of doing so, but he could, if necessary. "I'm 
glad to know how," he said. 

And then Mr. Vanderbilt went to attend to some 
work awaiting him outside, and I entered Mr. Depew's 
office. When I asked Mr. Depew to tell me something 
more of the young man whom he has so nobly be- 
friended in all his trials, he spoke with great animation. 

WISE DEVELOPMENT OF INHERITED TENDENCIES. 

"Cornelius," said he, "is a remarkable youth. From 
his early boyhood, I have seen in him signs of a pecu- 
liar ability. He has always been passionately fond of 
mechanics, and once, when a boy, was found trying to 
construct a steam engine out of an old saucepan. I 
have always hoped that he would enter actively into the 
work of the road, and I believe he has now begtm a 
career that will prove both remarkable and glorious. 
1 believe that, by pursuing this course, he will be the 
greatest railroad man of the age." 

"Where did he get this natural taste for the work, 
Mr. Depew?" I asked. 

"From his father, who did much the same work, 
when he was young, that Cornelius, Jr., is doing now. 

140 



A Millionaire Apprentice 

But I believe Cornelius, Jr., takes an even greater 
interest in the work. It is not a new duty with him, 
but a natural ambition, and I believe that he would 
have become a railroad man even if he were the son of 
the poorest parents in the land. He is fitted by nature 
for such a career. 

"His progress has so far been very satisfactory in 
every way. He has a genius for mastering details, and 
has already learned the construction of a locomotive. 
He has an inventive faculty, too, and has prepared 
plans for a locomotive that will achieve greater speed 
with smaller expenditure of coal. He expects to de- 
vote the next few years to mastering every department 
of railroad business, and he will eventually be compe- 
tent to fill almost any position on the road. He will 
shovel coal and dig in the trenches, and polish engines. 
He will lay rails and take them up, and learn how to 
mend a cracked one. He will learn to detect uncertain 
ground, too, and how to make it solid again. He 
agrees with me that the way to make a workman re- 
spect you is to work with him." 

HE WILL MASTER EVERY DETAIL. 

"When he has finished his work on the road, he will 
take his place in the offices here, and learn how the 
system is administered. He will study the financial 
department especially, which deals with expenditures 
and receipts. This is, perhaps, the most important de- 
partment of all for him. but he will also study the 



Cornelius \'anderbilt 

freight and passenger departments, and learn why the 
business increases and decreases, and the remedy for a 
falling off. There are a hundred and one things to 
learn, and he couldn't learn them in any other way. It 
will, of course, take a long time, perhaps fourteen or 
fifteen years, but he has a great deal of grit and perse- 
verance, and I believe he will stick to it until he has 
thoroughly mastered the business. 

"He will, in all likelihood, be the next member of the 
family to enter into the active management of the road. 
His brothers and cousins may eventually go through 
the same training, but Cornelius. Jr., is destined to be 
the most active in the management. I may not live to 
see it, but if his health holds out, and he is allowed to 
pursue his own course, he will perpetuate the name and 
fame of the \'anderbilts for another century." 

"He is a chip of the old block, indeed,"' said another 
friend of the Vanderbilt family, "and his industry 
brings to mind the push and energy of the first Corne- 
lius Vanderbilt in the early part of his career. The 
Commodore was never ashamed of any kind of honest 
work, and Cornelius is not. He will always be a 
worker, and his success in life is therefore assured, 
whether his father disinherits him or not. It is not 
believed, however, that Cornelius \"anderbilt will de- 
prive his son of his fair share in the estate. On the 
contrary, however strong the feeling of displeasure the 
father may have entertained toward Cornelius, it is 

'4^ 



A Millionaire Apprentice 

thought by friends of the family that he will treat his 
son and namesake fairly and even liberally." 

WORKING AS A MACHINIST. 

Young Cornelius, in his work as a machinist and 
otifice clerk, presents an example which other sons of 
millionaires could follow with profit. He is not alone, 
however, among young men of his class in training for 
a useful Hfe. One of New York's richest young men 
is said to be not only a worker, but an authority on 
mechanics, and is able both to roll up his shirt-sleeves 
and go to the bench, and to describe in the minutest 
detail the work on which he is engaged. His ability in 
the mechanical line would probably have won wealth 
and success for him, even had he not been born to a 
vast fortune. At the same time, the course of the next 
in succession to the control of the Vanderbilt millions, 
in entering upon an education in skilled labor as a com- 
mon workingman, is an excellent assurance that the 
family stock is not degenerating, and that its interests 
are in trustworthy hands. 

The ambition of Commodore Vanderbilt to establish 
and perpetuate a great railway empire seems likely to 
be fulfilled, so far as the present and the rising genera- 
tion of the Vanderbilts are concerned. It is the most 
remarkable experiment of the kind since the beginning 
of the American republic. 



43 



XII 

A Messenger Boy's Zeal Lifts Him 
to the Head of the World's 
Greatest Telegraph System. 

WllKX romance can be added to hard facts in 
telling the life-story of a man, such a narra- 
tive becomes more pointed and interesting 
than the rarest dreams of a fictionist ; there- 
fore, the true story of a man who has made himself 
cannot fail to be instructive as well as interesting. No 
other man in the United States, to-day, can look back- 
on a more remarkable career than that of Colonel Rob- 
ert C. Clowry, president of the Western Union Tele- 
graph Company. Mr. Clowry was delivering messages 
for that company in 18o2. with but one object in view, 
— to hold his position. He is the busiest man. per- 
haps, in America to-day. and has little time to spend 
with an interviewer. He dislikes the notoriety that the 
world gives to men who fight and win. but the story of 
such a man is of more than passing interest. It is an 
important, valuable, uplifting factor in the great com- 
f)ound that makes America. It belongs to the people. 
It is for their use to profit by. and. with this one condi- 

144 



President ot the "Western Union" 

tion impressed on Mr. L'lowry, he agreed to tell what 
he knows about himself. 

"I began my telegraph career on April 4, 1852," he 
said. "I shall never forget the day. I walked into the 
office of Judge Caton's old Illinois and Mississippi 
Telegraph Company, at Joliet, Illinois, and told the 
operator that I had come to learn the business. I can 
see the rickety building now, and the surprised expres- 
sion on the operator's face when he looked at me. 

HE WAS so POOR HE HAD TO DO HIS OWN COOKING. 

"I had been living with my mother on a farm in Will 
county, not far from Joliet, and, having reached the 
age of fifteen, I thought it time to start out in the 
world for myself. Ever since I first heard of the tele- 
graph, I was fascinated with its workings, and at that 
time my chief ambition was to be able to send a mes- 
sage over the wires. 

" 'What kind of work do you want to do ?' the opera- 
tor asked me. I replied that I didn't suppose I was 
capable of doing anything but carry messages. 'Well,' 
he said, 'we don't pay boys anything the first six 
months ; but, if you want to work, you will have a 
chance to learn the business. When you're in the office 
you can easily pick up the knack of operating the keys, 
and, eventually, you'll get an office of your own,' 

"I hadn't expected to earn any money at first, so I 
told him I was ready to begin at once. That was the 
beginning of my experience in the telegraph business." 

H5 



Robert C. Clowry 

"But, if you received no money for six months, how 
did you live in Joliet during that time?" I asked Col- 
onel Clowry. 

"I was able to earn money by doing various odd jobs 
around town, and of course my expenses were very 
low. For a while I used to get my own meals. I had 
learned to do plain cooking at home, and it was no 
hardship for me to fry an egg or broil a piece of steak. 
Joliet was a very small town in 1852, and I had never 
been accustomed to luxuries living at home. I had to 
work long hours at the office. I was the only mes- 
senger, and had all the work to do, so I hardly had 
time to be homesick. After my life on the farm. Joliet 
was a regular metropolis in my eyes and I found much 
to interest me. Of course, I was discouraged at times. 
I was very young to be away from home and dependent 
on my own resources, and it was only natural that I 
should occasionally get the blues. But for the most 
part I was wrapped up in my work and occupied with 
ambitious plans for the future." 

"Were 3-ou able to learn telegraphy in a short time?" 

"Yes, it seemed to come natural to me. I always 
liked mechanics and didn't rest until I knew the func- 
tion of every key and lever connected with the instru- 
ments in the office. Within two months, I was able to 
send and receive a message, and in four months I was 
quite as expert as the regular operator. He was sur- 
prised at the readiness with which I learned, and re- 
marked one day that I wouldn't remain a messenger 

146 



President of the "Western Union" 

long. This encouraged mc, of course, but i had no idea 
how soon I should be given an office of my own. 

"I had various unpleasant experiences as a messen- 
ger. I learned that, no matter how zealous I was in 
my work, it was impossible to please everybody, and I 
was frequently accused of loitering when in reality I 
had hurried as much as possible. The telegraph was a 
new institution in those days, and people were always 
doubtful of its success. They seemed actually surprised 
when a message was delivered without delay." 

IT IS WELL TO KNOW^ WHAT MEN HAVE ACCOMPLISHED. 

"In the beginning I was discouraged every time a 
man scolded me and found fault, but after a time I 
realized that it was foolish to be worried over trifles. 
I was doing my very best and knew that my services 
were appreciated by the officials over me. When I had 
been w^orking six months as a messenger, I was de- 
lighted, one day, by the information that the office at 
Lockport, Illinois, was vacant, and that I was to be 
placed in charge. I was not yet sixteen years old, but 
most people took me to be nineteen or twenty, and the 
superintendent said that age shouldn't count against 
ability. Lockport is in the same county as Joliet. so I 
was stationed near home, and my mother was delighted 
at the progress I had made." 

"At such an age you must have felt the responsibility 
of having the entire office in your charge." 

"Yes," said Colonel Clowry. "I think I did. It was 

HI 



Robert C. Clowry 

my constant endeavor to appear older than sixteen, 
because I felt that business men might not have con- 
fidence in my ability if they knew I was so very young. 
I was fortunate in my work. Everything progressed 
favorably under my management, and, as the business 
rapidly increased, the superintendent was pleased with 
my work." 

"Do you think the company would nowadays employ 
a boy of sixteen as manager?" 

"That's a difficult question to answer," said Colonel 
Clowry. "I think, if the boy were capable and earnest, 
he would be given such a position. Merit is as quickly 
rewarded to-day as ever." 

"I suppose you did not stay long at Lockport ?" 
"I wouldn't have been satisfied to stay there long. 
It was my ambition to be manager of a more important 
office, and I tried to prove myself worthy of a better 
position. I took advantage of every opportunity to im- 
prove my education. I read every book which could 
give me any knowledge of telegraphy and electricity, 
and was especially interested in biography, travel, his- 
tory, and geography. I was obliged to remain at the 
office until late in the evening, but often I sat up until 
after midnight, reading and studying. T think it is 
helpful for every boy to know what great and success- 
ful men have really accomplished. Among my favor- 
ite books were the journals of Lewis and Clark on their 
expedition across the continent in 1804, and, when T 

148 



President of the " Western Union " 

was discouraged or disheartened, it cheered me to re- 
member the vicissitudes encountered by them." 

HE TRIED TO DO MORE THAN HE WAS PAID TO DO. 

"I always endeavored, while at Lockport, and in 
every other position I have filled, to perform more ser- 
vice than that which was allotted to me and to watch 
my employer's interests at all times, regardless of stipu- 
lated hours. It is a great mistake for a young man to 
think that his efforts to be efficient and to perform 
more work than is set apart for him will not be noticed 
by his employers or superior officers. The appreciation 
of such services may seem tardy, but it is almost sure to 
come, and, in my case, it came very soon. After I had 
served at Lockport for a few months, I was transferred 
to Springfield, Illinois, which is a more important sta- 
tion. I was not seventeen when I began my work 
there, but I felt myself to be quite an experienced per- 
son in the business, and capable of caring for almost 
any office. On account of my night study I had a 
thorough knowledge of the principles of telegraphy, 
and my practice as an operator had given me the neces- 
sary technical qualifications. 

"Operators didn't receive as much then as they do 
now, but living expenses were low. When I went to 
Lockport, I believe that I was paid about a dollar a 
day, and at Springfield my wages were somewhat 
higher. In 1854, two years after I first began to carry 
messages, I was sent to St. Louis, as the company's 

149 



Robert C. Clowry 

chief operator, and of course that was a considerable 
promotion, I remained in that position until 1858, 
when I became superintendent of the St. Louis and 
Missouri River Telegraph Company, which was con- 
structing many new lines in the border region. The 
company was not very rich, but it was very necessary 
that its system should be extended. It occurred to me 
that the citizens of the border towns ought to be willing 
to pay something to have the convenience of the tele- 
graph ; so, when the line was constructed to Kansas 
City, I raised three thousand dollars in Leavenworth 
to extend it to that place, and two thousand dollars in 
Atchinson to have it built to that city from Leaven- 
worth. In this way we accomplished what the com- 
pany was financially unable to do. 

THERE ARE AS GOOD CHAXCES IN THE WORLD TO-DAY. 

"When the Civil War began, I offered my services 
to the government, and was placed in charge of the 
military telegraph in the Department of Arkansas. 
Alissouri and Kansas were subsequently added to my 
territory. I served through the war, and, at its close, 
when I was twenty-seven years old, I became a district 
superintendent for the Western Union Telegraph Com- 
pany in the southwest. I have been with this com- 
pany ever since, having served in various capacities in 
St. Louis and Chicago. This is my fiftieth year in the 
telegraph business, and I became president of the 

150 



President ot the '' Western Union " 

Western Union just fifty years to a month after I first 
entered the JoHet office and asked for work," 

"Do you think that a young man starting in commer- 
cial Hfe to-day has as good a chance to rise as one had 
fifty years ago?" Colonel Clowry was asked. 

"Yes, indeed ; in my opinion the chances of success 
in commercial business, for the right sort of young 
men, have never before been so good as they are at the 
present time, provided that the young men are well 
educated, honest, industrious, and faithful, and not 
handicapped by mental or physical defects." 

"But you had only a common-school education, Col- 
oi»el Clowry." 

"Yes, and that is quite sufficient in business if it is 
supplemented by some technical training, I have always 
thought that a full university course has a tendency to 
unfit young men for the rough struggles incident to 
the small beginnings of a commercial business career. 
It is advisable for boys to enter business early in life, 
so that they may be moulded to their work, and be in 
line for promotion when opportunities present them- 
selves. Boys have an idea nowadays that they can 
leave college and immediately fill important positions 
in business life. There was never a greater mistake. 
Although I was in charge of an office six months after 
beginning work, it has taken fifty years to reach my 
present position." 



151 



XIII 

Enthusiasm for Railroading Makes 
a Section Hand Head of the 
Metropolitan System. 

SOME time ago New York learned with interest 
and some astonishment that the head of its 
greatest transportation system, Herbert H. Vree- 
land, had received from several of his associates, 
as individuals, a "valentine" present of $100,000, in 
recognition of his superb management of their proper- 
ties. Many New Yorkers then learned, for the first 
time, what railroad experts throughout the country 
had long known, that the transportation of a million 
people a day in New York's busy streets, without seri- 
ous friction or public annoyance, is not a matter of 
chance, but is the result of perhaps the most perfect 
traffic organization ever created, at the head of which 
is a man, quiet, forceful, able, with the ability of a 
great general, — a master, and, at the same time a friend 
of men, — himself one for whom, in the judgment of his 
associates, almost any career is possible. 

Thirty years ago Mr. \^reeland, then a lad thirteen 
years old, was, to use his own humorous, reminiscent 
phrase, "h'isting ice" on the Hudson River, one of a 



Street Railway President 

gang of eighteen or twenty men and boys filling the ice 
carts for retail city delivery. A picture just brought 
to light shows him among the force lined up to be 
photographed, as a tall, loosely built, hatchet-faced lad 
in working garb, with a fragment of a smile on his 
face, as if he could appreciate the contrast of the boy of 
that day with the man of the future. 

How do these things happen ? What was the divine 
spark in this boy's brain and heart that should lift him 
out of the crowd of the commonplace to the position 
of responsibility and influence in the world which he 
now occupies? If my readers could have been present 
at the interview kindly granted by Mr. Vreeland and 
could have heard him recalling his early life and its 
many struggles and disappointments with a smile that 
was often near a tear, they would have gone away feel- 
ing that nothing is impossible to him who dares, and, 
above all else, who zvorks, and they would have derived 
inspiration far greater than can possibly be given in 
these written words. 

HE INHERITED A TASTE FOR HARD WORK. 

The desire to work was hereditary with Mr. Vree- 
land. His father incurred the displeasure of his own 
father and family, who were people of large means, by 
refusing to lead a life of gentlemanly idleness, and de- 
ciding, instead, to enter the ministry. The boy Her- 
bert was the youngest son in a family of several chil- 
dren, each of whom in turn helped to support the 



Herbert H. Vreeland 

mother and younger members after the death of the 
father. At ten years of age, in his passionate desire to 
do something, he drove a grocery wagon in Jersey 
City, to which his family had moved from his birth- 
place in Glen, New York, and, as before said, at thir- 
teen years of age, he was hard at work in an ice busi- 
ness, of which an elder brother was superintendent. 

"I first entered the railroad business in 1875," said 
Mr. Vreeland, "shoveling gravel on one of the Long 
Island Railroad Company's night construction trains. 
Though this position was certainly humble enough, it 
was a great thing to me then to feel myself a railroad 
man, with all that that term implied ; and, when, after 
a few months' trial, I was given the job of inspecting 
ties and roadbed at a dollar a day, I felt that I was well 
on the road to the presidency. 

"One day the superintendent asked the boss if he 
could give him a reliable man to replace a switchman 
who had just made a blunder leading to a collision, 
and had been discharged. The reply was : 'Well, I've 
got a man here named Vreeland, who will do exactly 
what you tell him to.' They called me up, and, after a 
few short, sharp questions from the train-master, I 
went down to the dreary and desolate marsh near 
Bushwick, Long Island, and took charge of a switch. 
For a few days I had to camp out near that switch, in 
any way that might happen, but finally the officers 
made up their minds that they could afford me the 



Street Railway President 

luxury of a two-hy-four flag house with a stove in it, 
and I settled down for more railroading." 

HE LOVED HIS WORK. 

"The Bushwick station was not far away, and one 
of the company's division headquarters was there. I 
soon made the acquaintance of all the ofificials around 
that station, and got into their good graces by offering 
to help them out in their clerical work at any and all 
times when I was off duty. It was a godsend to them, 
and exactly what I w^anted, for I had determined to 
get into the inside of the railroad business from bottom 
to top. Many's the time I have worked till eleven or 
twelve o'clock at night in that little station, figuring 
out train receipts and expenses, engine cost and duty, 
and freight and passenger statistics of all kinds; and, 
as a result of this work, I quickly acquired a grasp of 
railroad details in all stages, which few managers pos- 
sess, for, in one way and another, I got into and through 
every branch of the business. 

"My Bushwack switch was a temporary one, put in 
for construction purposes only, and, after some months' 
use, was discontinued, and I was discharged. This 
did not suit me at all, and I went to one of the officials 
of the road and told him that I wanted to remain with 
the Long Island Railroad Company in any capacity 
whatsoever, and would be obliged to him if he would 
give me a job. He said, at first, that he hadn't a thing 
for me to do, but finally added, as if he was ashamed 

^5S 



Herbert H. Vreeland 

to suggest it, that, if I had a mind to go down on 
another division and swept out and dust cars, I might 
do it. I instantly accepted, and thereby learned the 
details of another important railroad department. 

"Pretty soon they made me brakeman on an early 
morning train to Hempstead, and then I found that I 
was worth to the world, after two years of railroad 
training, just forty dollars a month, plus a perquisite 
or two obtained from running a card-table department 
in the smoking-cars. I remember that I paid eighteen 
dollars of my munificent salary for board and lodging, 
sent twenty dollars home for the support of m\ mother 
and sister, and had two dollars a month and the afore- 
said perquisites left for 'luxuries.' " 

A NICKNAME THAT BECAME A REAL TITLE. 

"It was at about this time, thus early in my career, 
that I first came to be known as 'President Vreeland.' 
An old codger upon the railroad, in talking to me one 
day, said, in a bantering way: 'Well, I suppose you 
think your fortune is made, now you have become a 
brakeman, but let me tell you what will happen. You 
will be a brakeman about four or five years, and then 
they will make you a conductor, at about one hundred 
dollars a month, and there you will stick all your life, 
if you don't get discharged.' I responded, rather 
angrily, 'Do you suppose I am going to be satisfied 
with remaining a conductor? I mean to be president 
of a railroad.' 'Ho. ho, ho!' laughed the man. He 

.56 



Street Railway President 

told the story around, and many a time thereafter the 
boys slyly placed the word 'President' before my name 
on official instructions and packages sent to me. 

"A conductor on one of the regular trains quarreled 
one morning with the superintendent, and was dis- 
charged. I was sent for and told to take out that 
train. This was jumping me over the heads of many 
of the older brakemen. and, as a consequence, all the 
brakemen on that train quit. Others were secured, 
however, and I ran the train regularly for a good many 
months. 

"Then came an accident one day. for which the engi- 
neer and I were jointly responsible. We admitted our 
responsibility, and were discharged. I went again to 
the superintendent, however, and, upon a strong plea 
to be retained in the service, he sent me back to the 
ranks among the brakemen. I had no complaint to 
make, but accepted the consequence of my mistake. 

"Soon after this, the control of the road passed into 
other hands. Many were discharged, and I was daily 
expecting my own 'blue envelope.' One day I was de- 
tailed to act as brakeman on a special which was to 
convey the president and directors of the road, with 
invited guests, on a trip over the lines. By that time I 
had learned the Long Island Railroad in all its branches 
pretty well, and, in the course of the trip, was called 
upon to answer a great many questions. The next day 
I received word that the superintendent wanted to see 
me. My heart sank within me. for summons of this 



Herbert H. Vreeland 

kind were ominous in those days, but I duly presented 
myself at the office and was asked, 'Are you the good- 
looking brakeman who was on the special yesterday 
who shows his teeth when he smiles?' I modestly re- 
plied that I w^as certainly on the special yesterday, and 
1 may possibly have partly confirmed the rest of the 
identification by a smile, for the superintendent, with- 
out further questioning, said : 'The president wants to 
see you upstairs.' 

"I went up, and in due time was shown into the 
presence of the great man, who eyed me closely for a 
minute or two, and then asked me abruptly what I was 
doing. I told him I was braking Number Seventeen. 
He said: Take this letter to your superintendent. It 
contains a request that he relieve you from duty, and 
put somebody else in your place. After he has done so, 
come back here.' " 

AN IMPORTANT MISSION WELL PERFORMED. 

"All this I did, and, on my return to the president, 
he said, 'Take this letter at once to Admiral Peyron, of 
the French fleet (then lying in the harbor on a visit of 
courtesy to this country), and this to General Han- 
cock, on Governor's Island. They contain invitations 
to each to dine with me to-morrow night at home in 
Garden City with their staffs. Get their answ^ers, and, 
if they are "yes," return at once to New York, charter 
a steamer, call for them to-morrow afternoon, land 
them at Long Island City, arrange for a special train 

158 



Street Railway President 

from Long Island City to Garden City, take them 
there, and return them after the banquet. I leave 
everything in your hands. Good day.' 

"I suppose this might be considered a rather large 
job for a common brakeman, but I managed to get 
through with it without disgracing myself, and appar- 
ently to the satisfaction of all concerned. For some 
time thereafter, I was the president's special emissary 
on similar matters connected with the general conduct 
of the business, and while I did not, perhaps, learn so 
very much about railroading proper, was put in posi- 
tions where I learned to take responsibility and came 
to have confidence in myself. 

"The control of the Long Island Railroad again 
changed hands, and I was again 'let out,' this time for 
good, so far as that particular road was concerned, — 
except that, within the last two or three years, I have 
renewed my acquaintance with it through being com- 
missioned by a banking syndicate in New York City 
to make an expert examination of its plant and equip- 
ment as a preliminary to reorganization. 

"This was in 1881, or about that time, and I soon 
secured a position as conductor on the New York and 
Northern Railroad, a little line running from One 
Hundred and Fifty-fifth Street, New York City, to 
Yonkers. Not to go into tedious detail regarding my 
experience there, I may say in brief that in course of 
time, I practically 'ran the road.' After some years, it 
changed hands (a thing which railways, particularly 

'59 



Herbert H. Vreeland 

small ones, often do, and always to the great discom- 
posure of the employees), and the new owners, includ- 
ing W'illiam C. Whitney, Daniel S. Lamont, Captain 
R. Somers Hayes and others, went over the road one 
day on a special train to visit the property. As I have 
said, I was then practically running the road, owing to 
the fact that the man wdio held the position as general 
manager was not a railroad man and relied upon me to 
handle all details, but my actual position was only 
that of train-master. I accompanied the party, and 
knowing the road thoroughly, not only physically but 
also statistically, was able to answer all the questions 
which they raised. This was the first time I had met 
Mr. Whitney, and I judge that I made a somewhat 
favorable impression upon him, for not long after that I 
was created general manager of the road." 

HOW HE WAS ELECTED TO THE PRESIDENCY OF HIS 
COMPANY. 

"A few months later, I received this telegram : — 

" 'H. H. \'reeland. 

" 'Meet me at Broadway and Seventh Avenue office 
at two o'clock to-day. 

'' 'William C. Whitxey." 

"I had to take a special engine to do this, but arrived 
at two o'clock at the office of the Houston Street, \\'est 
Street and Pavonia Ferry Railroad Company, which I 

160 



Strtet Railway President 

then kntu, in an indistinct sort of way, owned a small 
horse railway in the heart of New York. After finding 
that Mr. \A^hitney was out at lunch. I kicked my heels 
for a few minutes outside the gate, and then inquired 
of a man who was seated inside in an exceedingly com- 
fortable chair, when Mr. Whitney and his party were 
expected, saying, also, that my name was Vreeland, 
and I had an appointment at two. He replied: 'Oh, 
are you Mr. Vreeland? Well, here is a letter for you. 
Mr. \\'hitney expected to be here at two o'clock, but is 
a little late.' I took my letter and sat down again 
outside, thinking that it might possibly contain an ap- 
pointment for another hour. It was, however, an ap- 
pointment of quite a different character. It read as 
follows : 

■■ 'Mr. H. H. Vreeland. 

" 'Dear Sir : — At a meeting of the stockholders of 
the Houston Street, W^st Street and Pavonia Ferry 
Railroad Company, held this day, you were unanimous- 
ly elected a director of the company. 

'' 'At a subsequent meeting of the directors, you were 
unanimously elected president and general manager, 
your duties to commence immediately. 

" 'Yours truly. C. E. Warrex, Secretary.' 

"By the time I had recovered from m\ surprise at 
learning that I was no longer a steam-railroad, but a 
street-railroad man. Mr. Whitnev and other directors 



H_ > 



• -^rrrp- tt. srrr ? p^ iCeXiIIIIS; 5COrr ZT^ 



jZQE :ie: ~Err irsrs suli 



smmr -rsjsid.. jrar srs girfscen:: sew rmi 

rsi'^c^ a: ^«f3S ""^yr iad rrr'e ioEi 3i^ drisE-SS;.'^ 






sr IE s-i- oese: 



±Ese rxt±er ±zar xr^ ryu-±ciisgCr-Jrrgr-£-7^r 



gr-TTTnrg- -^fsar^^ i sr^s: oescT. 3L seSet life. 
■*I isxe sI-v^T? Tegs: .^i&i: rSaar I sfecse tfe finsssDess 

'fenK SG- Of crurse.. -w^en: E t?^ ■7:«r5r yuniTg.. I fesff 
:: ai-icnsirgri rarcjess. Zi^ sTrrcs: er^sTx ri^Tfier j-ictSl. 

e62 



XIV 

A Factory Boy's Purpose to Improve 
Labor Makes Him a Great 
Leader. 



g • 1 \ \ O reduce the burdens of the overworked 
I and find employment for the workless 

-■- workers," as expressed in his own w^ords, 
is the Hfe-work of Samuel Gompers. 
This single aim has been the wellsprmg of the manifold 
activities, excitements, vicissitudes, and achievements 
of a remarkable career. Nearly forty years ago, when 
Samuel Gompers, a boy of ten. worked fourteen hours 
a day in a shop in London, the hardships of the work- 
ingman made an impression on his childish mind, and 
this impression, and vague ideas that followed it, were 
the beginnings of his life purpose, — a purpose that kept 
growing and strengthening during twenty-six years at 
the cigarmaker's bench, and finally raised him to the 
position of foremost representative in America of the 
interests of labor. 

Being president of the American Federation of 
Labor, whose headquarters are in Washington, Mr. 
Gompers now lives in that city, but not long ago he 
was in New York as one of the distinguished speakers 

164 



Founder American Federation of Labor 

before a great mass meeting. The following night, in 
an obscure hall on the "eastside" where a number of 
his old friends and fellow-workers in the cigarmaker's 
trade had gathered to discuss their common interests, 
I had my interview with him. 

LOOKS LIKE EDWIN FORREST. 

"He's not here yet." I was informed on my arrival ; 
"but come in and wait. When he comes, anybody will 
point out Sam to you." The room filled rapidly, and 
at length there appeared in the doorway a small man 
with a great head, covered with a luxuriant growth of 
very black hair. His short, robust figure, his high 
forehead, deep-set eyes, heavy mustache and short im- 
perial made him look strikingly like some of the por- 
traits of Edwin Forrest. He came in alone and attracted 
no special attention, but I knew intuitively that it was 
Samuel Gompers. With such easy and cordial saluta- 
tions as "Hello, Jack!" "How are you, Herman?" and 
"Glad to see you, Mac!" he began to greet his old 
friends, and they responded in the same spirit, almost 
invariably addressing him as "Sam." This did not im- 
ply a lack of dignity on his part, for these were his old 
shopmates, — men who had for years worked with him 
at the same benches. They recognized each other as 
fellow-workmen, with no dift'erence between them, and, 
indeed, the only difference was that Sam Gompers had 
thought much and seen much in his mental vision as he 

165 



Samuel Gonipers 

sat at the mechanical work of cutting and roUing 
tobacco leaves, while the others had seen only their 
own environment and machine-like toil. But this dif- 
ference has made one a leading citizen of the Republic, 
while his mates have remained humble cigarmakers, 
looking to Mr, Gompers as their champion and friend. 
"It was just at such meetings as you see here to- 
night," Mr. Gompers said to me later in the evening, 
"that I began to try to do something in behalf of the 
workingmen. Even when a small boy in London, and 
working pretty hard for the child I was, I used to 
attend some of the gatherings of workingmen, and I 
remember how I was stirred by the excitement and 
enthusiasm when the question of recognizing the Con- 
federate States was before the government and there 
were great meetings of the working classes to show the 
feeling of British workmen against slavery of any sort. 
I had already vaguely begun to feel that there was 
more than one kind of slavery, and that the working- 
men who had protested so vigorously against slaves in 
America could hardly call themselves free men. I 
knew little of the matter ; I only knew that my own life 
was hard, while that of many other children was easy." 

HE WORKED IN A FACTORY AT TEN. 

"When I was ten, I had been put in a factory to 
learn shoemaking, but a few months afterward was 
apprenticed to a man in my father's trade. — that of a 
cigarmaker. I went to school at night, l)ut it was a 

166 



Founder American Federation of Labor 

very meager foundation for an education that I got 
this way, and I have been trying ever since to make 
up for it by reading and study. My lack of early op- 
portunity to learn and develop normally, with school- 
ing and much recreation, as a boy should, has always 
been a great drawback to me, but it has made me zeal- 
ous in the cause of keeping the children of the workers 
out of the workshops and giving them a fair education. 
College training is not necessary for success in any but 
scholastic pursuits, but boys must certainly know the 
rudiments.'' 

THE LATER ARISTOCRACY. 

"Times were bad in London when I was a child there. 
Gangs of workmen used to parade the streets, singing 
mournfully, 'We have no w^ork to do !' This condition 
led my father to immigrate to this country, in 18G3, 
when I was thirteen. I continued my trade of cigar- 
maker in New York, and joined the 'Cigarmakers' 
International Union' when it was organized, in 1864. 
It now has thirty thousand members, but mine is the 
longest continued membership ; my due card is No. 1. 
This was the first labor organization I belonged to. I 
attended its meetings and got into the habit of studying 
and thinking about labor matters and the many changes 
in the workingman's condition that w^ould be beneficial 
to himself and to the commonwealth. 

"I began to realize that, in the struggles of the ages, 
lords and nobles have lost their gold lace and velvet, 

167 



Samuel Goin})ers 

but that they survive as the economic lords of the 
means of Hfe, and that their aggressions must be op- 
posed i)v combinations of labor — by trade unions. I 
began to appreciate the true dignity of labor and the 
importance to the state of fair conditions for working- 
men. The older I grew, the more essential seemed the 
strong organization of labor. I felt that Wendell 
Phillips expressed in these words : 'I rejoice at every 
effort workingmen make to organize. I hail the labor 
movement. It is my only hope for democracy. Or- 
ganize and stand together. Let the nation hear a 
united demand from the laboring voice.' 

THE NEED OF ORGANIZED LABOR. 

"Of course the idea of organized labor is a very old 
one. Trade unions have been in existence since the 
Middle Ages, but what they needed in this country was 
more cohesive strength. There were a great number of 
separate unions and some general organizations, but 
they were not strong enough. A new plan was needed. 
and we published a call which resulted in a convention 
at Pittsburg, in 1881, at which the xA.merican Federa- 
tion of Labor was formed. Most of the delegates to 
that convention were strongly opposed to our project 
for an organization on broader lines than had been 
before attempted, but we carried the point, and at 
present the Federation has six hundred and fiftv 
thousand members." 

It is a matter of history that Samuel Gnmpers was 

168 



Founder American Federation of Labor 

the founder of the American Federation of Labor. The 
first impulse came from him. \\'hile sitting at his 
bench in New York rolling cigars, he conceived the 
plan that has made the Federation the largest and most 
important and useful labor organization that has ever 
existed. 

HE WAS ELECTED PRESIDENT OF THE FEDERATIOX. 

Air. Gompers declined the presidency at the first 
convention, but he was obliged to accept it at the 
second great gathering, held in Cleveland, in 1882. 
For some time after his election he remained at work 
at his trade, but the growing number and importance 
of his duties at length made it necessary for him to 
devote all his time to the Federation, which he does 
for a salary that many clerks would scofif at. Mr. 
Gompers has received offers for nominations to con- 
gress from both the Republican and Democratic par- 
ties in his New York district, and has been asked by 
several presidents of the United States to accept im- 
portant and highly salaried offices, but he has declined 
them all, feeling that his present position gives him 
greater opportunities of usefulness to the workingman. 

The laws whose place on the statute books are due 
to the efforts of Mr. Gompers make a long list. They 
include sanitary inspection for factories, mills, mines, 
etc., the age limit law, employers' Uabilities for dam- 
ages to life and limb, wagc-licn laws, uniform car- 
coupling laws, anti-sweatshop legislation, the anti-con- 

169 



Samuel Gompers 

spiracy law, the state-board-of-arbitration law, laws re- 
stricting the hours of labor, and the enactment making 
the first Monday in September a holiday. 

FOR THE EIGHT-HOUR WORKDAY. 

"At present," said Mr, Gompers, "one of our chief 
slogans is, — 'An Eight-Hour Workday!' There is 
more in this than one might think at a first glance. 
With a little leisure, the workingman has an oppor- 
tunity to read and cultivate his mind and devote him- 
self to his home and family. It makes him expand 
intelluctualy and think more, and with this new life 
come new desires. He wants to have his home more 
comfortable than it has been. He wants a few books, 
a few pictures, a little recreation for himself and family, 
and for these things he makes outlays of money which 
are very modest in individual cases, but which, in the 
aggregate, amount to vast sums and have a stimulating 
effect on all trades. This makes an increased demand 
for labor. It has a tendency to raise wages and di- 
minish the number of the unemployed. These im- 
portant benefits to be derived from shorter hours of 
labor constitute the reason why I am making an issue 
of the eight-hour workday. We have already done 
much and expect to do more. Yet you have no idea 
how hard it sometimes is to procure the passage of a 
measure. When the uniform car-coupling bill was 
before the senate, the senators would run into the coat- 
room to avoid voting, and I stood at the door in a half 

170 



Founder American Federation of Labor 

frantic condition, sending my card to this senator and 
that senator, and telHng each that he simply must sup- 
port the measure. It was hard work, but we carried it 
through." 

STRIKES AS A LAST RESORT. 

Strikes are not favored by ]Mr. Gompers except 
under certain circumstances and as a last resort. Dur- 
ing the great Chicago strike, the most intense pressure 
was brought to bear upon him to issue an order calling 
out all the workingmen in the country. It took high 
moral courage to resist the many strenuous appeals, 
but Samuel Gompers possessed this courage and the 
country was saved from an experience which might 
have proved most calamitous. 

"I firmly believe in arbitration," said Mr. Gompers, 
"but to arbitrate, the power must be equal, or nearly 
so, on both sides : therefore labor must be strongly 
organized." 

I asked him to what he attributed his success in his 
life-work. 

"Well," he answered slowly, "I learned both to think 
and to act, and to feel strongly enough on these great 
questions of labor to be willing to sacrifice my per- 
sonal convenience for my aims. I have felt great devo- 
tion to the common cause of the manual workers, and 
I can say nothing better to young men than. — 'Be 
devoted to your work.' " 

When I asked a very intelligent workingman why 

171 



Suinucl Goinpers 

Samuel Gompers is so highly respected by the workers, 
he replied : — 

"Why, because, — because he's Sam Gompers, — but 
that doesn't explain much, does it? Well, I will say 
because he has done more for labor than any other man 
in this country, because we can trust him down to the 
ground, and because he's in his work heart and soul." 



172 



XV 

A Puny Boy, by Physical Culture, 
Becomes the Most Vigorous of 
American Presidents. 

THE way to study a man, I find, is at close range, 
when he is not on the platform or under the 
limelight. Better than any other is his vaca- 
tion time, when the armor has been laid aside 
and the man himself stands forth. My card of intro- 
duction proved a ready passport to the country seat of 
Theodore Roosevelt, near Oyster Bay, Long Island. 
As I drove up, one bright July morning, the shore of 
this sequestered inlet was framed in a background of 
heavy green. No painter could do justice to the mir- 
rored loveliness of the water, or the graceful line of 
sailboats lazily floating over it. The beach was a silver 
mat in an emerald frame, and every tree on the oppo- 
site shore was inverted in the clear depths. The Roose- 
velt house stands on a hill overlooking a magnificent 
view of Long Island Sound. It is three miles away 
from the railway station, just the sort of place one 
would choose for complete rest. The dreamy beauty 
of the scene was conducive to indolence, and so, sure 
enough, I found Mr. Roosevelt in outing attire, sur- 



Theodore Roosevelt 

rounded by his children and entering with zest into 
their out-door sports. 

Little Theodore was prancing up and down the road 
on his favorite black pony, a genuine rough rider in 
horsemanship, brown as a berry, and an unmistakable 
cadet of the Roosevelt house. The president's war- 
horse, "Texas," whose right ear was clipped by a 
Spanish "Mauser," was out for an airing. Over the 
veranda flared a pair of great antlers, a trophy of the 
chase, while in the big reception hall were other antlers. 
The sword worn by Colonel Roosevelt in Cuba has 
found a resting-place across the mantel mirror, its 
leathern strap all ready to be buckled on again should 
a military emergency arise. Tlie overcoat is there, too, 
with the hat and boots. 

I found him averse to politics as a topic for 
discussion, but I hinted that I would be pleased to 
quote his views on young men in politics, — their 
chances and their duties. 

YOUNG MEN IN POLITICS. 

"That opens up," said he, as he smiled graciously, 
"such a vista of human thought that I know you will 
excuse me from its contemplation this hot weather." 

The shade of the veranda where we sat was deli- 
ciously somnolent, and I was beginning to regret my 
question when the president relented for a moment. 

"You know I have always advocated an earnest, in- 



Rancher, Author, Soldier and President 

telligeiu study of political subjects by young men. Our 
American politics offer a clean, wholesome field, after 
all is said and done, for the young man of character 
and ability; but never should one enter politics for a 
living." 

"Now, we know that }0U approve of college educa- 
tion for boys, but want your own words about it." 

"It depends somewhat on the boy. I don't believe 
in every boy going to college." 

"But do you not think it makes them less practical 
than they would be if they grew up in business pur- 
suits ?" 

"Not at all. The best kind of college graduates are 
the most practical, and they are becoming more numer- 
ous every year. Don't you think I'm practical ?" 

"Do you think the boys in towns like this have as 
good a chance for success in life as those who live in 
large cities?" 

"Certainly, and often better chances. I have always 
been glad to have been raised in the country. Of course 
it is often a good thing for a boy to go to the city when 
he is grown. He sometimes does better there than in 
a small place; not always, though. It depends upon 
the boy." 

OPPORTUNITIES AND TALENTS. 

"Are you a believer in opportunity, Mr. Roosevelt ?" 

"To a certain extent. [Many of the great changes in 

our lives can be traced to small things, a chance 



Theodore Roosevelt 

acquaintance, an accident, or some little happening. A 
time comes to every man when he must do a thing or 
miss a great benefit. If the man does it, all is well. If 
not, it isn't likely that he will have the chance again. 
You can call that opportunity if you wish, but it is 
foresight that leads a man to take advantage of the 
condition of things. Foresight is a most valuable thing 
to have." 

"Some men," I remarked, after a time, "have a talent 
for working themselves, while others have a talent for 
setting others to work. Which is the more valuable?" 

"I think a man ought to have both. If he can't, I 
think he ought to be able to work himself. The ability 
to work hard is, perhaps, the most valuable aid to suc- 
cess. One can't have much success without it." 

"They say it isn't a good thing for a young man to 
have too many talents, Mr. Roosevelt. Is it true?" 

"That's very hard to answer. I have managed to do 
many different things in a lifetime. I might have done 
better by doing only one. Still, that is another thing 
that depends very much upon the young man, and his 
capabilities." 

'T know you must believe in recreation for people 
who are working, since you are yourself indulging in 
it now." 

"Oh, yes, one must have some change. A man who 
has no outdoor exercise is likely to wear himself out in 
short order. I love to be out of doors. I always hav^ 
and that is one thing that has helped me to do some 

176 



Rancher, Author, Soldier and President 

things that 1 have. 1 go out for a time every day 
when I am here at home. I enjoy being in the open 
air." 

"I know you think that the young man of to-day has 
a better chance to make a success in hfe than those 
who Uved twenty-five years ago," 

"Certainly. The young man of to-day has greater 
opportunities for advancing himself and achieving a 
real success than any men have ever had before. Every- 
thing offers better chances, and all a boy needs is edu- 
cation enough to appreciate them when they are here. 
That is one of the chief values of a good education. It 
aids a young man in many things that would be invisi- 
ble to the uneducated fellow. It helps him to weigh 
things in his mind before deciding what to do. It is 
mind-training that we need. The power to think is 
almost absolutely necessary to success. Without it, a 
man is sure to be unequal to the great struggle for 
supremacy that is going on constantly in certain pro- 
fessions and lines of business." 

In a contributed article President Roosevelt gave 
his views of what constitutes good citizenship. Ajt 
extract from this article is given herewith : 

THE CITIZENSHIP THAT COUNTS. 

"After honesty as the foundation of the citizenship 
that counts, in business or in politics, must come cour- 
age. You must have courage not only in battle, but 
also in civic life. \A'e need physical and we need moral 

^77 



Theodore Roosevelt 

courage. Neither is enough by itself. You need moral 
courage. Many a man has been brave physically who 
has flinched morally. You must feel in you a fiery 
wrath against evil. When you see a wrong, instead of 
feeling shocked and hurt, and a desire to go home, and 
a wish that right prevailed, you should go out and fight 
until that wrong is overcome. You must feel ashamed 
if you do not stand up for the right as you see it ; 
ashamed if you lead a soft and easy life and fail to do 
your duty. You must have courage. If you do not, 
the honesty is of no avail. 

"But honesty and courage, while indispensable, are 
not enough for good citizenship. I do not care how 
brave and honest a man is ; if he is a fool, he is not 
worth knocking on the head. In addition to courage 
and honesty, you must have the saving quality of com- 
mon sense. One hundred and ten years ago, France 
started to form a republic, and one of her noted men — 
an exceedingly brilliant man, a scholar of exceptional 
thought, the Abbe Sieyes, — undertook to draw up a 
constitution. He drew up several constitutions, beauti- 
ful documents ; but they would not \vork. The French 
national convention resolved in favor of liberty; and, 
in the name of liberty, they beheaded every man who 
did not think as they did. They resolved in favor of 
fraternity, and beheaded those who objected to such a 
brotherhood. They resolved in favor of equality, and 
cut off the heads of those who rose above the general 
level. They indulged in such hideous butcheries, in the 

>78 



Rancher, Author, Soldier and President 

name of liberty, equality, and fraternity, as to make 
tyranny seem mild in compa.rison ; — and all because 
they lacked common sense, as well as morality. 

'Two or three years before that, we, in America, had 
a body of men gathered in a constitutional convention 
to make a constitution. They assembled under the lead 
of Washington, with Alexander Hamilton, Madison, 
and many other eminent men. They did not draw up a 
constitution in a week, as the brilliant Sieyes did, but 
just one constitution, and that one worked. That was 
the great point ! 

"It worked, primarily, because it was drawn up by 
practical politicians, — by practical politicians who be- 
lieved in decency, as well as in common sense. If they 
had been a set of excellent theorists, they would have 
drawn up a constitution which would have commended 
itself to other excellent theorists, but which would not 
have worked. If they had been base, corrupt men, 
mere opportunists, men who lacked elevating ideals, 
dishonest, cowardly, they would have drawn up a docu- 
ment that would not have worked at all. On the great 
scale, the only practical politics is honest, politics. The 
makers of our constitution were practical politicians, 
who were also sincere reformers, and as brave and up- 
right as they were sensible." 

THE BOYHOOD OF ROOSEVELT. 

Nobody thought of calling Theodore Roosevelt 
"Teddv." when he was a boy. He was always known 



Theodore Roosevelt 

as *'Tedie," — pronounced as if written "Teedie." But 
several years before he went to Harvard, when he was 
about fifteen years old, his mother thought that it was 
high time that the baby name was replaced by some- 
thing more dignified, and so it was decided, in family 
council, that he should be addressed as Tlieodore. 

Unfortunately, family decisions of this kind are not 
always respected at school or college, and, when young 
Roosevelt became a freshman at Harvard, he was 
promptly dubbed "Teddy" by his classmates. The 
nickname stuck ; he has been 'Teddy" ever since to 
his intimates, and to-day he is more generally known 
under that title by seventy-six millions of people than 
by any other. There is every reason to believe that he 
enjoys the little informality, justly regarding it as a 
tribute to his popularity. 

When he was nine years of age, young Roosevelt 
was taken abroad by his parents, and he made another 
trip with them to Europe not long afterward, greatly 
enjoying a voyage up the Nile. At seventeen he en- 
tered Harvard, and promptly grew a pair of side- 
whiskers, of which it may reasonably be supposed that 
he was very proud. The side-whiskers resembled 
those of Pendennis, as pictured by Thackeray. It goes 
without saying that he soon became extremely popular 
at college, where he acquitted himself fairly well in his 
studies. Old classmates recall the fact that he had a 

180 



Rancher, Author, Soldier and President 

passion for animals and that he collected many queer 
natural history specimens, which he kept in his room. 

WHERE HE GAINED STRENUOSITY. 

On the whole, it is rather surprising that Theodore 
Roosevelt ever lived to grow up and become the Presi- 
dent of the United States. He was an exceedingly 
delicate child, suffering such tortures with asthma that 
on many occasions his father was obliged to harness 
his four-in-hand in the middle of the night, take the 
boy from his bed. and drive many miles, in order that 
he might get his breath. 

To my thinking, his inherent manliness, his indepen- 
dence of thought and action, his firm determination to 
do his duty as he sees it, found early expression in the 
character of Theodore Roosevelt when, as a youth, in 
search of health and strength, he went to the great 
west. It is probable that, while yet a young man, he 
was ambitiously inspired to do something out of the 
ordinary, and w^as shrewd enough to know that, to win 
success in hfe's undertakings, vigorous health is a 
prime requisite. He elected the arid plains and moun- 
tains of our western country, as a likely locality where- 
in he might build up a constitution sturdy and strong. 

HE DASHED INTO THE VORTEX OF THE CHASE. 

It was in the summer of 1883 that he entered the 
then "wild and woolly" town of Little Missouri, situ- 
ated on the Northern Pacific Railroad, in the very 
heart of the "bad lands" of Dakota. Little Missouri 

181 



Theodore Roosevelt 

contained at that time some of the worst "bad men" 
and outlaws to be found outside the borders of civiliza- 
tion. But it was not in the town that he expected to 
find the heahh and strength to carry him through the 
strenuous life he, perhaps, had already mapped out, but 
in the saddle, camp, and chase, by Hving close to nature 
and taking "pot luck" with the rough and rugged men 
who became his companions, and who understood him 
and whom he understood from the outset. During 
that summer, with one man and a pack-outfit, he hunted 
over the country, from Yellowstone Park to the Black 
Hills, from the Black Hills to the Big Horn Moun- 
tains, through the Big Horn Basin to Jackson Hole and 
in the majestic Rocky Mountains, back to Yellowstone 
Park, down Clark's Fork to the Yellowstone, the Big 
and Little Horn Rivers, through the Crow Indian 
Reservation where General George A. Custer, the gal- 
lant and lamented soldier, went to a heroic death. 
Back again to the "bad lands" of the Little Missouri, 
went Theodore Roosevelt, having hunted buffaloes, 
elk, deer, antelope, mountain sheep, bear, lion and 
the smaller game of that country. He fished in the 
numerous mountain streams, and lived the rough, 
hardy life of a frontiersman. For five months, the 
heavens were his only canopy. He caught and killed 
game for his own use, saddled his mounts, did his own 
cooking, was his own scout, and performed his half of 
the night-work. The capacity to do for himself and 
meet men upon an equal basis — self-reliance and per- 

182 



Rancher, Author, Soldier and President 

sonal courage, — came to him as the fruition of this 
and similar experiences in the Far West. I know that 
this democracy still influences him. 

HE SHOWED PIONEERS HOW TO WINTER CATTLE. 

Having studied the conditions of the wild animal 
life of mountain and plain, he found that the fattest 
and best wild game inhabited the "bad lands" of Little 
Missouri. Although without food or shelter, save 
what they could gather from the grasses that grew 
there, the wild game was in splendid condition. As a 
result of these conditions, the young hunter made up 
his mind to engage in the business of raising cattle. 
Old frontiersmen told him that cattle could not be 
wintered in the "bad lands." This he disputed, and he 
argued, as proof of his contention, the fact that the 
finest wild game was to be found there, and he could 
not understand why cattle would not thrive under the 
same conditions. The following spring, Theodore 
Roosevelt shipped to Little Missouri, by the Northern 
Pacific Railroad, several hundred head of catde, hired 
vaqneros, purchased mess-wagons and provisions, and 
drove the cattle from the cars to his range in the very 
heart of the "bad lands." There he took up the life of 
a western ranchman, and asked of his men nothing 
that he would not undertake himself. He faced the 
most violent blizzards while rounding up the cattle for 
safety. I remember this intrepid son of fortune, par- 
ticipating in the stampedes, doing his share of the 

183 



Theodore Roosevelt 

night-herding, breaking his own horses, sleeping at 
night with his saddle for a pillow, and, perhaps, the 
snow for a blanket, eating the same rough, substantial 
fare as his employees, and evidencing the indomitable 
will, courage and endurance which brought to him the 
affection and respect of his men. 

HE CIVILIZED MANY "bAD MEN" BY HIS IXFLUENCE. 

The country at that time was the habitat of horse 
thieves, stage robbers, desperadoes, and criminals in 
general. Surely this "tenderfoot" from the east would 
prove an excellent subject for imposition! Other men 
had been made to feel that lawlessness and depredation 
were united as a common lot visited upon each new- 
comer, the only apparent, quick redress being in the 
power and ability of the offended party to protect him- 
self and chastise the marauders. Mr. Roosevelt's 
salutatory to such persons came early, and was effec- 
tive. His influence and example did much toward civi- 
lizing the "bad men" in his locality, who found him to 
be an absolutely just man, possessing nerve, and handy 
with gun and fists. No person ever stole a hoof of his 
cattle or horses but was captured and punished ac- 
cording to the laws then existing in that country. 

Theodore Roosevelt early acquired the reputation of 
being abundantly able to protect himself and his inter- 
ests, his aptitude along such lines being brought out in 
bold relief by what is remembered in the west as the 
Marquis De Mores incident. Marquis De Mores was 

,S4 



Rancher, Author, Soldier and l^residtnt 

a Frenchman by birth and a western ranchmar. 
through preference. He went west heralded as a duel- 
ist of great reputation, and located upon a ranch some 
miles distant from that of the subject of this article. 
Although thoroughly an honorable man. he believed in 
governing the country by force, and it was the popular 
impression that the cowboys in his employ were "kill- 
ers" and ready to fight at the drop of the hat. Soon 
after De Mores had established his headquarters in a 
town called Medora, Roosevelt's cowboys and those in 
De Mores' employ became involved in a dispute over 
some cattle, which resulted in a pitched battle between 
the disputants. \*ictory, and a decisive one, perched 
upon the Roosevelt standard. De Mores' anger and 
chagrin were boundless when he learned of the out- 
come of the affair, and he informed his men that, if 
they could not whip Roosevelt's cowboys, he, person- 
ally, could whip their boss, and that some day he 
would go to Roosevelt's ranch and accomplish such a 
task. Roosevelt heard of this threat and sent imme- 
diate word to De Mores that he need not trouble to 
undertake the journey to his (Roosevelt's) ranch, but 
tliat he would meet him half way, at any designated 
point, when any diflferences could be speedily, if not 
peacefully, adjusted. Marquis De ^lores did not 
choose to seriously consider our friend's message, and 
the impression became prevalent and widespread in 
that section of the country that the Frenchman's hand 

,85 



Theodore Roosevelt 

had been "called" and that he had been found bluffing. 

"GAMENESS" WAS NEEDED; ROOSEVELT HAD PLENTY. 

In those days, if there was one attribute of character 
and make-up more thoroughly acceptable than another, 
to the average westerner, it was the "gameness" a man 
possessed and displayed at an opportune time, such 
qualities always proving the open sesame to the regard 
and affections of the men of the camp. The De Mores 
episode gained for Roosevelt no little distinction. Con- 
trary to predictions, his cattle industry proved to be a 
financial success. The cattle wintered well in the "bad 
lands," and, from there, he shipped some of the finest 
beeves ever placed in the Chicago market. He re- 
mained in the business for about three years, when he 
found himself the owner of several thousand head of 
cattle, splendid ranch houses, and corrals, and no 
doubt he could have remained in the business and be- 
come one of the cattle kings of the west. But by that 
time he had obtained what he went west for, — vigor- 
ous health and an iron constitution, the result of his 
labor and life on the plains, had come to him and he 
was ready for greater things. He gave to the people 
■ f the west an example of splendid integrity and force- 
lul character, early winning their esteem and loyalty, 
ihe possession of which he has never forfeited but 
rather increased by the continued exercise of the sturdy 
independence which found such early expression 
among a people whose pluck and perseverance in the 

186 



Rancher, Author, Soldier and President 

upbuilding of a great and new country has been im- 
mortalized in song and legend. 

illS FRONTIER LIFE WAS AMPLY WORTH THE WHILE. 

As a legislator, police commissioner, governor and 
soldier, he has proved his capacity and worth, perform- 
ing his work well and conscientiously. His fellow 
citizens, regardless of geographical distribution, be- 
lieve that he will not be found wanting in the discharge 
of the exacting duties of his present exalted station, 
and his career may well be an inspiration to American 
youths. To all who have ever lived the untrammeled 
life of plain and mountain, the sweet memory of it 
abideth forever. To our president the freedom of it 
still strongly appeals, and we find him making occa- 
sional excursions into a country where the pleasures 
of the camp and the chase are still to be found, and 
\v'here democracy prevails. To live as he did, and ac- 
complish what he has, meeting the conditions of a new 
country, gaining health, strength, and a knowledge of 
men, was indeed worth while. 



.87 



XVI 

A Brave Volunteer Fights His Way 
to the Head of the American 
Army. 

GENERAL MILES has had a remarkable mili- 
tary career. 
He was not quite twenty-two when Fort 
Sumter was fired upon, and was, at the time, 
cMiiployed in a store near Boston. He spent his money 
in organizing a company, of which he was elected cap- 
tain, but was commissioned only as a lieutenant, on ac- 
count of his age. But he rapidly rose to be captain, 
colonel, brigadier-general and major-general. General 
Hancock quickly discovered his abiHties. He was in 
charge of that commander's line at Chancellorsville, 
and held his own successfully against every attack by 
Lee's veterans. The second day. he was seriously 
wounded, and General Hancock, in a letter to Washing- 
ton urging his promotion, said : "If Colonel Miles 
lives, he will be one of the most distinguished of our 
officers." 

In February, 1865, this young man of twenty-six 
commanded the Second Army Coq)s. Xever before 
liad an American officer, at that age, had charge of so 

188 



A Fighting Commander 

large a body of soldiers. When Lee surrendered at 
Appomattox, he had command of the First Division of 
the Second Army Corps. 

SIX YEARS OF INDIAN FIGHTING. 

General Miles is best known as an Indian fighter. 
His six years of work among the Indians covered a beh 
of country from the Rio Grande to Canada, and four 
hundred miles wide. In 187-i, powerful Indian tribes 
roamed over this land. But Miles and his companions- 
in-arms, ofificers and soldiers, guarded the newly con- 
structed railroads, and the towns which arose on the 
plains, until civilization prevailed. In 1876, he fought 
at Staked Plains, defeating the Cheyennes, Kiowas and 
Comanches. He subjugated the Sioux, and drove Sit- 
ting Bull, Crazy Horse and other braves across the 
Canada line. In September, he conquered the Nez 
Perces, with Chief Joseph ; in 1878, the Bannocks. For 
five years, — (1880-1885), — he commanded the Colum- 
bia Department; in 1885, he was transferred to the 
Arizona Department, and subdued the Apaches under 
Geronimo and Natchez. He w^as made a major-gen- 
eral, United States Army, April 5, 1890; in 1891, he 
closed the war with the Sioux, 

General Miles carries the honorable scars of four 
serious bullet-wounds. His wife was a Sherman, 
daughter of Judge Sherman, and niece of ex-Secretary 
Sherman and of General William Tecumseh Sherman. 
She is a "comrade" as well as a home-companion, and 

189 



Nelson A. Miles 

went with him to inspect fortifications and visit our 
southern camps during the late war. 

HIS RECORD IN THE CIVIL WAR. 

In the Civil War he was noted for his audacity and 
dash. He was a fighting commander. He never hesi- 
tated to obey an order to advance, and he never wanted 
to retreat. His courage was an inspiration to his 
troops, and undoubtedly prevented disaster on more 
than one occasion. Hancock had the utmost confidence 
in Miles, and put him to the front to bear the brunt of 
the enemy : the latter never failed his chief. When the 
break took place at Reams' Station. — that unfortunate 
battle, the name of which is said to have been printed 
on the heart of Hancock like Calais in the heart of 
Queen Mary,— Miles and his staff pushed to the very 
front to stay the backward rush of the troops, and the 
gallant defense which he offered to the victorious 
enemy saved the day from becoming one of the great 
catastrophes of the w-ar. 

While Miles is famous for his gallantry as a com- 
mander, he is equally noted for his coolness and good 
judgment. He always insisted upon the proper treat- 
ment of his men by the commissary department, and 
his division, the Second Corps, never had any reason to 
complain of want of attention on the part of their gen- 
eral to their comforts. "Good treatment and good 
fighting" was his rule, 

190 



A Fighting Commander 

A LOYAL, DAUNTLESS LEADER. 

As commander of the army, General Miles is not 
different from the Miles of thirty years ago. Those 
who knew him then say that he has changed very little 
in appearance, and not at all in his devotion to duty 
and to the army. He was always above petty jeal- 
ousy, and never withheld from a subordinate the credit 
due to him, — and this is a prominent trait in Miles to- 
day. The public wondered that Miles showed no im- 
patience when he was not sent in command of the 
troops to Cuba, but those who knew the General felt 
that he was too firm a believer in discipline to object to 
any lawful act of his commander-in-chief. Miles is 
known to have been anxious to lead the fighting in the 
only war likely to offer him an opportunity to prove hi§ 
ability as a general in command, but he obeyed without 
a murmur the orders which placed in other hands the 
leadership of the troops in the field. He maintained a 
vigilant supervision of all that was going on. and was 
especially watchful of the supplies which had been 
intended for the support of the army at the front. His 
criticism of those supplies has caused a widespread 
sensation and there were earnest demands that all the 
facts should be known, and the responsibility fixed. 

A YOUNG man's CHANCES IN THE ARMY. 

General Miles is not willing to see callers when he is 
busy with his official duties. At other times, he is 

191 



Nelson A. Miles 

readily approached. He said to me that he did not 
care to talk about matters pending in connection with 
the army. I assured him at once that I had no inten- 
tion of questioning hint in regard to the matters to 
which he alluded, but would be glad to have his opin- 
ion about the chances of a young man in the army, and 
the proper qualifications for one seeking to enter the 
service. 

General Miles replied that he would not object to 
answering questions on that point. 

I asked the general if he thought an education neces- 
sary for a good soldier. 

"Certainly," was the reply ; "education is a good 
thing for a soldier, and he ought to be educated in more 
than reading, writing and arithmetic. He ought to 
have character, stability, energy and a willingness to 
obey. These qualities are largely brought out by the 
right kind of education. It can be set down as a rule, 
tliat a worthless civilian would be a worthless soldier. 
There are exceptions to the rule, of course, but the 
man who has the right kind of training to make him a 
good citizen is the best man for the army." 

CHARACTER THE FOUNDATION OF TRUE COURAGE. 

"And such a man will get along best in the army ?" 
1 suggested. 

"M(ist assuredly," answered General Miles. "Vou 
can see that by looking over the list of heroes in tlie 
])ast. They have ahvays been men of character. An 

192 




YOUTH 



A Fighting Commander 

officer should be a man of character, in order to com- 
mand the respect of his men. Without their respect 
and esteem, he cannot succeed. W'ith them, he can ac- 
compHsh great things, if the opportunity olTers. Look 
at the regard which the EngHsh soldiers had for the 
Duke of Wellington. It was chiefly based on his char- 
acter, for he was not what might be called a lovable 
man. His men were ready to go anywhere that he 
sent them, for they knew their commander, and had 
confidence in him. Character is as important in a 
great general as in a great statesman or a great mer- 
chant. Character is just as necessary, also, in the pri- 
vate as in the officer. It will command recognition in 
time." 

"Would you say, General, that the army really holds 
out very great chances for advancement?" 

"I think it holds out as many chances as any pro- 
fession or business does ; for in the army, as in busi- 
ness, merit wins every time, and if a soldier has real 
merit, it is bound to be recognized, sooner or later." 

"There is a chance, then, for every man who goes 
into the army as a private to become a general?" 

"I don't know that I would make the statement as 
strong as that, but I believe that every soldier who de- 
serves it will be promoted." 

"Would you advise young men to select the army in 
preference to other professions?" 

'That depends," the general replied, "on the young 
man. If he is fairly educated and properly trained, if 



Nelson A. Miles 

his tastes are military, and he understands the impor- 
tance and duty of discipHne, if he is willing to learn 
and to obey, he will make no mistake in entering the 
army. There are, of course, other circumstances, such 
as family claims and associations which must have 
their bearing upon the choice of a career, but, speak- 
ing from the standpoint of the army, I would say that 
it is a good place for any young American with the 
right qualifications." 

COURAGE NATURAL TO AMERICANS. 

When asked about the conduct of our troops in the 
late war. General Miles answered: "Our soldiers 
fought bravely, but nothing else could be expected 
from .\merican soldiers. They have no superiors in 
the field, and American history has shown that they 
can cope successfully with any foe. Courage is a natu- 
ral virtue with all Americans, and the late war has 
shown that it has not been weakened any by years of 
peace. There is no better material in the world for an 
army than the young men who grow up in the cities 
and towns and on the farms of the United States. I 
have already said that a young man who enters the 
army should have education, and the intelligence of the 
average American soldier is one of his most valuable 
traits. He is not merely a machine ; he is an intelli- 
gent machine. He is conscious of his duty and his 
responsibilities. 

194 



A Fighting Commander 

"What do }0u think of tht- future of the army, Gen- 
eral ?"' 

General Miles replied deliheratel}- : "The American 
people will never have any occasion to be otherwise 
than proud of their army. It will be found equal to 
every call that can possibly be made upon it, and pre- 
pared to face any danger in defense of the nation." 



19^ 



XVII 

Making the Most of His Opportuni- 
ties Wins a Coveted Embassy. 



/ l^T OU may say what you will," said a young 



lawyer in a conversation wherein Joseph 
H. Choate and his ability were the topics 
of conversation ; "a man cannot hope to 
distinguish himself without special opportunities." 

"Not even in law?" questioned one. 

"There least of all," was the answer. 

"Well," said another, "the period in which Mr. 
Choate began his career in New York is commonly re- 
ferred to as the golden age of the metropolitan bar. 
James T. Brady was a conspicuous figure in the popu- 
lar eye. Charles O'Connor had already made a lasting 
impression. Mr. Evarts was in the front rank in poli- 
tics as well as in law. Mr. Hoffman was equally prom- 
inent on the Democratic side, and Mr. Stanford's bril- 
linacy in cross-examination had given him an enviable 
reputation. The legal heavens were studded with stars 
of such lustre as to make any newcomer feel doubtful 
about his ability to compete. But Choate displayed no 
anxiety. He hung out his shingle and began to look 
for clients, and they came." 

ig6 



Joseph H. Clioate 

A YOUNG LAWVER's CHANCES THEN AND NOW. 

"That was before the war," resumed the original 
speaker. "Do you imagine he could have attained his 
position as the foremost American lawyer under condi- 
tions as they exist to-day without special advantages ?" 

"Possibly," I said, and added that it was probable 
that Mr. Choate, if approached, would kindly throw 
light on the subject. 

In pursuance of this idea, I called one evening at the 
residence of ?^Ir. Choate. Previous inquiry at the law 
office of Evarts, Choate and Beaman, on Wall Street, 
elicited the information that Mr. Choate's days were 
filled to overflowing with legal affairs of great im- 
portance. Consequently it was surprising to find him 
so ready to see a stranger at his home. 

It was into a long room on the ground floor that I 
was introduced, three of its walls lined with tall, dark 
walnut book-laden cases, lighted by a bright grate fire 
and by a student's lamp on the table by night, and by 
two heavily-shaded windows by day. As I entered, the 
great lawyer was busy prodding the fire, and voiced 
a resonant "good-evening" without turning. In a 
moment or two he had evoked a blaze, and assumed a 
standing attitude before the fire, his hands behind 
him. 

ARE SPECIAL ADVANTAGES NECESSARY? 

"Well, sir," he began, "what do you wish?" 
"A few minutes of vour time," I answered. 



Ambassador to Great Britain 

"Why?" he questioned succinctly. 

"I wish to discover whether you beHeve special 
advantages at the beginning of a youth's career are 
necessary to success?" 

"Why my opinion?" 

I was rather floored for an instant, but endeavored 
to make plain the natural interest of the public in the 
subject and his opinion, but he interrupted me with the 
query : — 

"Why don't you ask a man who never had any ad- 
vantages," at the same time fixing upon me one of his 
famous "what's in thy heart?" glances. 

"Then you have had them ?" I said, grasping wildly 
at the straw that might keep the interviewer afloat. 

"A few, not many," he replied. 

"Are advantages necessary to success to-day ?" 

"Define advantages and success," he said abruptly, 
evidently questioning whether it was worth while to 
talk. A distinguished looking figure he made, looking 
on, as I collected my defining ability. The room 
seemed full of his atmosphere. He is a tall man, oaken 
in strength, with broad, intelligent face, high forehead, 
alert, wide-set eyes, and firm, even lips expressive of 
great self-control. His fluency, his wit and humor, his 
sound knowledge, his strength and perfect self-posses- 
sion, were all suggested by his face and expression, 
and by the firmness of his squarely set head and massive 
shoulders. 

"Let us," I said, "say money, opportunity, friends, 

198 



Ambassador to Great Britain 

good advice, and personal popularity for early advan- 
tages. 

"The first isn't necessary," said the jurist, leisurely 
adjusting his hands in his pockets. "Opportunity 
comes to everyone, but all have not a mind to see ; 
friends you can do without for a time; good advice 
we take too late, and popularity usually comes too early 
or too tardy to be appreciated. Define success." 

WHAT SUCCESS MEANS. 

"I might mention fame, position, income, as exam- 
ples of what the world deems success." 

"Foolish world !" said Mr. Choate. "The most suc- 
cessful men sometimes have not one of all these. All 
I can say is that early advantages won't bring a man a 
knowledge of the law, nor enable him to convince a 
jury. What he needs is years of close application, the 
ability to stick until he has mastered the necessary 
knowledge." 

"Where did you obtain your wide knowledge of the 
law?" I asked. 

"Reading at home and fighting in the courts. — prin- 
cipally fighting in the courts." 

"And was there any good luck about obtaining your 
first case? Was it secured by special effort?" 

THE GOOD LUCK OF BEING PREPARED. 

"None, unless it was the good luck of having a sign 
DUt, large enough for people to see. The rest of it was 

199 



Josfpli H. Clioate 

hard work, getting the evidence and the law fixed in 
my mind. 

"You beHeve, of course," I ventured, "that advan- 
tageous opportunities do come to all ?" 

"Yes," said he, drawing up a chair and resignedly 
seating himself. "I believe that opportunities come to 
all, — not the same opportunities, nor the same kind of 
opportunities, nor opportunities half so valuable in 
some cases as in others, but they do come, and if seen 
and grasped will work a vast improvement in the life 
and character of an individual. Every boy cannot be 
president, but my word for it, if he is industrious, he 
can improve his position in the world." 

TURNING OBSTACLES INTO AIDS. 

"It has been said, Mr. Choate," I went on, "that you 
often ascribe both your success in particular cases, and 
your general success at the bar, to good luck and 
happy accidents." 

"Just so, just so," he answered, smiling in a manner 
that is at once a question and a mark of approbation. 
"I hope I have always made the most of good luck 
and happy accidents. We all should. My friend, John 
E. Parsons, once denounced a defendant insurance 
company as a 'vampire, — one of those bloodless crea- 
tures that feed on the blood of the people.' It was a 
savage address of the old-fashioned style, and convinc- 
ing, until I asked the judge and jury if they knew what 
a vampire really is. 'Look at the Quaker gentleman 

200 



Ambassador to Great Britain 

who is president of tliis company,' I said, pointing him 
out. 'Also look at that innocent yovmg man, his attor- 
ney, wlio sits next to him with a smile on his face. You 
thought vampires were something out of the way when 
Brother Parsons described them, but these are regular, 
genuine vampires.' That brought a laugh and good 
feeling, and T suppose you might call the whole thing 
an opportunity to turn a bad assault into a helpful 
incident." 

The great lawyer was a study as he spoke, his easy, 
unafifected attitude and bearing itself carrying weight. 
His manner of accepting the intrusion with mild ac- 
quiescence and attention. l)ut with no intention of al- 
lowing himself to be bored, was interesting. It has 
become customary to say that he is a poor politician, 
and as the term is ordinarily employed and understood, 
he is. because he is ever ready to say what he really 
thinks. It is precisely this quality, this freedom from 
cowardice, this detestation of truckling to ignorance 
and brutality, this independence, that cause him to 
stand out so boldly in the legal profession. 

DOES LACK OF OPPORTUNITY JUSTIFY. 

"If equally valuable opportunities do not come to 
all," I went on, "hasn't an individual a right to com- 
plain and justify his failure?" 

"We have passed the period when we believe that all 
men are equal." said Mr. Choate. "We know they're 
free, but some men are born less powerful than others. 

201 



Joseph H. Choate 

Hut if an individual does not admit to himself that he 
is (lehcicnt in strength or reasoning powers, if he 
claims all the rights and privileges given others be- 
cause he is 'as good as they ' then his success or failure 
is upon his own head. He should prove that he is 
what he thinks he is, and be what he aspires to be." 

"You believe, of course, that an individual may over- 
estimate his abilities." 

"Believe it," he answered, with a deprecatory wave 
of the hand, "trust the law to teach that. But if a 
man does overestimate himself, he still owes it to him- 
self to endeavor to prove that his estimate of himself 
is correct. We all need to. If he fails, he will be learn- 
ing his limitations, which is better than never finding 
them out. No man can justify inaction." 

"What do you consider to be the genuine battle of a 
youth to-day? — the struggle to bear poverty while 
working to conquer?" 

"Not at all," came the quick answer. "Poor clothes 
and poor food and a poor place to dwell in are dis- 
agreeable things and must be made to give place to 
better, of course, but one can be partially indifferent 
to them. The real struggle is to hang on to every ad- 
vantage, and strengthen the mind at every step. There 
are persons who have learned to endure poverty so well 
that they don't mind it any longer. The struggle comes 
in maintaining a purpose through poverty to the end. 
It is just as difficult to maintain a purpose through 
riches." 

202 



Ambassador to Great Britain 

"Money is not an end, then, in your estimation." 
"Never, and need is only an incentive. Erstcine made 
his greatest speech with his hungry children tugging 
at his coat-tail. That intense feeling that something 
has got to be done is the thing that works the doing. 
I never met a great man who was born rich." 

MR. CHOATE's antecedents. 

This remark seemed rather striking in a way, be- 
cause of the fact that Mr. Choate's parents were not 
poor in the accepted sense. The family is rather dis- 
tinguished in New England annals. His father was a 
cousin of the famous Rufus Choate, and the latter, at 
the date of Joseph's birth, January 24, 1832, was just 
entering his second term in congress to distinguish 
himself by a great speech on the tariff, Mr. Choate 
was the youngest of four brothers, and, after receiving 
a fair school education in Salem, was sent to Harvard, 
where he was graduated in 1852, and later from its law 
school in 1854. Influence procured him a position in 
a Boston law office. After a year of practical study, 
he was admitted to the bar of Massachusetts. In Oc- 
tober of that year he made a tour of observation in the 
western states, in company with his brother William, 
and on his return determined to settle in New York. 

'Tsn't it possible, Mr. Choate," I ventured, "that 
your having had little or no worry over poverty in your 
youth might cause you to underestimate the effect of 
it on another, and overestimate the importance of stick- 

203 



.loscpli H. Choate 

ing with determination to an idea through wealth or 
deprivation ?" 

"No," he repHed, after a few moments' delay, in 
which he picked up one of the volumes near by as if 
to consult it : "no, the end to be attained makes im- 
portant the need of hanging on. I am sure it is quite 
often more difificult to rise with money than without." 

DOES SUCCESS BRING CONTENT AND HAPPINESS. 

"You have had long years of distinction and com- 
fort ; do you find that success brings content and hap- 
piness ?" 

"Well," he answered, contracting his brows with 
legal severity, "constant labor is happiness, and suc- 
cess simply means ability to do more labor, — more 
deeds far-reaching in their power and efifect. Such 
success brings about as much happiness as the world 
provides." 

"I mean," I explained, "the fruits of that which is 
conventionally accepted as success ; few hours of toil, 
a luxuriously furnished home, hosts of friends, the 
applause of the people, sumptuous repasts, and content 
in idleness, knowing that enough has been done." 

"We never know that enough has been done," said 
the lawyer. "All this sounds pleasant, but the truth 
is that the men whose great efforts have made such 
things possible for themselves are the very last to de- 
sire them. You have described what appeals to the 
idler, the energyless dreamer, the fashionable dawdler. 

204 



Ambassador to Great Britain 

and the listless voluptuary. Enjoyment of such things 
would sap the strength and deaden the ambition of a 
Lincoln. The man who has attained to the position 
where these things are possible is the one whose life 
has been a constant refutation of the need of these 
things. He is the one who has abstained, who has 
conserved his mental and physical strength by living 
a simple and frugal life. He has not taken more than 
he needed, and never, if possible, less. His enjoyment 
has been in working, and I guarantee that you will find 
successful men ever to be plain-mannered persons of 
simple tastes, to whom sumptuous repasts are a bore, 
and luxury a thing apart. They may live surrounded 
by these things, but personally take little interest in 
them, knowing them to be mere trappings, which 
neither add to nor detract from character." 

THE DELUSION OF LUXURY AND EASE. 

"Is there no pleasure then in luxury and ease without 
toil?" I questioned. 

"None," said the speaker emphatically. "There is 
pleasure in rest after labor. It is gratifying to relax 
when you really need relaxation, to be weary and be 
able to rest. But to enjoy anything you must first feel 
the need of it. But no more," he said, putting up his 
hand conclusively. "Surely you have enough to make 
clear what you wish to know." 

Mr. Choate had talked for ten minutes. His ease 
of manner, quickness of reply, smoothness of expres- 



Joseph H. Choatc 

sion, and incisive diction, were fascinating beyond de- 
scription. As I was about to leave, I inquired if he 
would object to my making our conversation the sub- 
ject of an article, to which he smiled his willingness, 
waiving objection with a slight movement of the hand. 

MR. CHOATE's share OF NEW YORK's LAW BUSINESS. 

In court circles it is common report that Mr. 
Choate's contemporaries divide half of the business 
among them, and Mr. Choate has the other half to 
himself. 

This is due to his wonderful simplicity and direct - 
.ness, which never falters for a moment for thought or 
word. He drives straight for the heart and head of 
client or ofhcer, witness or counsel, judge or juryman. 
A distinguished barrister has said of him: 

"Where other lawyers are solemn and portentous, 
or wild or unpleasant, he is humorous and human. He 
assumes no superior air ; often he speaks with his hands 
in his pockets. He strives to stir up no dark passions. 
While he is always a little bit keener, a little finer and 
more witty than the man in the box or on the bench, 
yet he is always a brother man to him." 



206 



XVIII 

A Village Boy's Gift of Oratory Earns 
Him Wealth and Fame. 

OF the busy men of the world, there are none 
more so than Chauncey M. Depew, until re- 
cently president of the New York Central and 
Hudson River Railroad, and now president of 
tlie board which looks after all the Vanderbilt inter- 
ests. One must have something worthy his attention 
to gain admittance to the busy man, and I need say no 
more for the present interview than that the distin- 
guished orator and statesman saw fit to discuss the 
possibilities of young men and their future, and gave 
readily of his time and opinions. I stated to him the 
object of my interview, — that it was intended to obtain 
his views as to what qualities in young men best make 
for success, and to ask him, if possible, to point out 
the way, by the aid of example, to better work and 
greater success for them. He smiled approvingly, and, 
to my question, whether, in his opinion, the opportuni- 
ties awaiting ambitious young men are less or more 
than they have been in the past, replied : — 

"More, decidedly more. Our needs in every field 
were never greater. The country is larger, and. while 

207 



Chauncey M. Depew 

the population is greater, the means to supply its in- 
creased wants require more and more talent, so that 
any young man may gain a foothold who makes his 
effort with industry and intelligence." 

"Do vou mean to say that there is an excellent posi- 
tion awaiting everyone?" 

"I mean to say that, while positions are not so 
numerous that any kind of a young man will do, yet 
they are so plentiful that you can scarcely find a young 
man of real energy and intelligence who does not hold 
a responsible position of some kind. The chief affairs 
are in the hands of young men." 

"Was it different in your day, when you were be- 
ginning?" 

"Energy and industry told heavily in the balance 
then, as now, but the high places were not available for 
young men because the positions were not in existence. 
We had to make the places, in those days ; and not only 
that, but we were obliged to call ourselves to the tasks. 
To-day, a man fits himself and is called. There are 
more things to do." 

"How was it with boys, in your day, who wanted to 
get an education ?" 

HE HAD TO EARN HIS OWN WAY. 

"With most of them, it was a thing to earn. Why, 
the thing that I knew more about than anything else, 
as I grew from year to year, was the fact that I had 
nothing to expect, and must look out for myself. I 

208 



U. S. Senator and Railroad President 

can't tell you how clear my parents made this point to 
me. It absolutely glittered, so plain was it." 
"Your parents were Americans?" 
"Yes. I was born at Peekskill, in 1834." 
Although Mr. Depew modestly refrains from dis- 
cussing his ancestry, he comes from the best New- 
England stock. He descends, through remote paternal 
ancestors, from French Huguenots, who were among 
those who came to America in the early days of the 
country, and who founded the village of New Rochelle. 
in Westchester county. His mother, Martha Mitchell, 
was of illustrious and patriotic New England descent, 
being a member of the family to which belonged Roger 
Sherman, a signer of the Declaration of Independence ; 
and he is a lineal descendant of the Rev. Josiah Sher- 
man, chaplain of the Seventh Connecticut Continental 
infantry, and of Gabriel Ogden. of the New Jersey 
militia, both of whom served in the American Revo- 
lution. 

"Had you any superior advantages in the wa>- of 
money, books, or training?" I continued. 

"If you want to call excellent training a superior 
advantage I had it. Training was a great point with 
us. We trained with the plow, the ax, and almost any 
other implement we could lay our hands on. I might 
even call the switch used at our house an early ad- 
vantage, and, I might say, superior to any other in our 
vicinity. I had some books, but our family was not 

20t9 



Chauncey M. Dcpew 

rich, even for those times. We were comfortably 
situated, nothing more." 

"Do you owe more to your general reading than you 
do to your early school training?" 

"Yes, I think so. I attended the school in our village 
regularly, until I went to college ; but I was not dis- 
tinguished for scholarship, except on the ballground." 

"Do you attribute much of your success in life to 
physical strength?" 

"It is almost indispensable." 

HE ENTERED YALE AT EIGHTEEN. 

"I was always strong. The conditions tended to 
make strong men, in those days. I w^ent to college in 
my eighteenth year. I think I acquired a broader view 
there, and sound ideals which have been great helps. 
It was not a period of toil, however, as some would 
have made it." 

His time at Yale was in no respect wasted. The 
vigorous, athletic, fun-loving boy was developing into 
a man with a strength and independence of character, 
very imperfectly understood at first by the already long 
list of men who liked him. 

"What profession did you fix upon as the field for 
your life work?" I asked. 

"That of the law. I always looked forward to that ; 
and, after my graduation, in 1856, I went into a law 
office (that of Hon. William Nelson,) at Peekskill, and 
prepared for practice. That was a time of intense 

210 



U. S. Senator and Railroad President 

political excitement. There were factions in the Demo- 
cratic party, and the Whig party seemed to be passing 
away. The Republican party, or People's party, as it 
had first been called, was organized in 185G, and men 
were changing from side to side. Naturally, I was 
mixed in the argument, and joined the Republican 
party. 

"When I was graduated at Yale College, in 1856," 
he continued, 'T came home to the village of Peekskill 
to meet my father, m}- grandfather, my uncles and my 
brothers, all old Hunker, state-rights, pro-slavery 
Democrats. But I had been through the fiery furnace 
of the Kansas-Xebraska excitement at New Haven, and 
had come out of it a free-soil Republican. Two days 
after my return, I stood, a trembling boy, upon a plat- 
form to give voice in the campaign which was then in 
progress, to that conversion which nearly broke my 
father's heart, and almost severed me from all family 
ties. It seemed then as if the end of the world had 
come for me in the necessity for this declaration of 
convictions and principles, but I expressed my full be- 
lief. In this sense, I believe a young man should be 
strong, and that such difficult action is good for him." 

HIS BEGINNING AS AN ORATOR. 

"Is that where you began your career as an orator?" 
I asked. 

"You mean as a stump-speaker? Yes. I talked tor 
Fremont and Dayton, our candidates, but they were 

211 



Chauncey M. Depew 

defeated. We did not really expect success, though, 
and yet we carried eleven states. After that, I went 
back to my law books, and was admitted to the bar in 
1858. That was another campaign year, and I spoke 
for the party then, as I did two years later, when I was 
a candidate for the state assembly, and won." 

The real glory hidden by this modest statement is 
that Mr. Depew's oratory in the campaign of 1858 
gained him such distinction that he was too prominent 
to be passed over in 1860. During that campaign, he 
stumped the entire state, winning rare oratorical tri- 
umphs, and aiding the party almost more than anyone 
else. How deep an impression the young member from 
Peekskill really made in the state legislature by his 
admirable mastery of the complex public business 
brought before him, may be gathered from the fact 
that when, two years later, he was re-elected, he was 
speedily made chairman of the committee on ways 
and means. He was also elected speaker, pro tern., and 
at the next election, when his party was practically de- 
feated all along the line, he was returned. 

After briefly referring to the active part he took in 
th.e Lincoln campaign, I asked : — 

"When did you decide upon your career as a railroad 
official?" 

"In 1866. I was retained by Commodore Vander- 
bilt as attorney for the New York and Harlem Road." 

"To what do you attribute your rise as an official 
in that field?" 

212 



U. S. Senator and Railroad President 

"Hard work. That was a period of railroad growth. 
There were many small roads and plenty of warring 
elements. Out of these many small roads, when once 
united, came the great systems which now make it 
possible to reach California in a few days. Anyone 
who entered upon the work at that time had to en- 
counter those conditions, and if he continued at it, to 
change them. I was merely a counselor at first." 

In 18G9, Mr. Depew was made attorney for the New 
York Central and Hudson River Railroad, and after- 
ward a director. This was the period of the develop- 
ment of the Vanderbilt system. Mr. Depew was a con- 
stant adviser of the Vanderbilts, and, by his good judg- 
ment and sagacious counsel, maintained their constant 
respect and friendship. In 1875, he was made general 
counsel for the entire system and a director in each one 
of the roads. 

A SALARY OF $25,000 A YEAR. 

It has often been urged by the sinister-minded, that 
it was something against him to have gained so much 
at the hands of the Vanderbilts. The truth is that this 
is his chief badge of honor. Many times he has won 
influence and votes for the Vanderbilt interests, but 
always by the use of wit, oratorical persuasion and legi- 
timate, honorable argument, — never by the methods of 
the lobbyist. Commodore Vanderbilt engaged him as 
counsel for the New York York Central Railroad, at a 
salary of $25,000 a year.— then equal to the salary of 

213 



Chauncey M. Depew 

the president of the United States, — and he always 
acknowledged that Mr. Depew earned the money. 

He is now the head of the entire Vanderbilt system, 
or the controlling spirit of thirty distinct railroads, be- 
sides being a director in the Wagner Palace Car Com- 
pany, the Union Trust Company, the Western Union 
Telegraph Company, the Equitable Life Insurance 
Society, the Western Transit Company, the West 
Shore and International Bridge Company, the Morris 
Run Coal ^Mining Company, the Clearfield Bituminous 
Coal Corporation, the Hudson River Bridge Company, 
the Canada Southern Bridge Company, the Niagara 
River Bridge Company, the Niagara Grand Island 
Bridge Company, the Tonawanda Island Bridge Com- 
pany, the American Safe Deposit Company, the Mutual 
Gas Light Company, and the Brooklyn Storage and 
Warehouse Company. 

"How much of your time each day," I asked, "have 
you given, upon an average, to your professional 
duties ?" 

"Ony a moderate number oi hours. I do not believe 
in overwork. The affairs of life are not important 
enough to require it, and the body cannot endure it. 
Just an ordinary day's labor of eight or ten hours has 
been my standard." 

"Your official duties never drew you wholly from the 
political field, I believe?" 

"Entirely, except special needs of the party, when 
I have been urged to accept one task after another. I 

214- 



U. S. Senator and Railroad President 

believe that every man's energies should be at the dis- 
posal of his country." 

"On the political side, what do you think is the es- 
sential thing for success?" 

"The very things that are essential anywhere else — 
honesty, consistency and hard work." 

"It requires no strain of character, no vacillation?" 

"For twenty-five years," answered Mr. Depew, "I 
was on all occasions to the front in political battles, 
and I never found that political opinions or activity 
made it neccessary to break friendships or make them." 

Mr. Depew's pohtical career is already so well known 
that it need not be reviewed here. 

After three years of service as vice-president of the 
New York Central Railroad, he was elevated, in 1885, 
to the presidency. While thus given a position of great 
influence in the business world, his growing reputation 
made him eligible for greater political honors than any 
for which he had yet been named. In 1888 he was the 
presidential candidate of the Republicans of New York 
state, at the national convention of the party, and re- 
ceived the solid vote of his state delegation, but with- 
drew his name. President Harrison offered him the 
position of secretary of state, to succeed Mr. Blaine, 
but he declined. 

OPPORTUNITIES OF TO-DAY. 

"What do you think of the opportunities to-day? 
Has the recent war aided us?" 

215 



Chauncey M. Depew 

"It is the best thing for the }Oung men of to-day 
that could have happened ! The new possessions mean 
everything to young men, who are going to be old men 
by and by. We, as a nation, are going to find, by the 
wise utilization of the conditions forced upon us, how 
to add incalculably to American enterprise and oppor- 
tunity by becoming masters of the sea, and entering 
with the surplus of our manufactures the markets of 
the world. The solid merchants are to undertake the ex- 
tension of American trade, but the young men will be 
called in to do the work under their guidance. The 
young man who is ready is naturally the one chosen." 

"You think a tide of prosperity waits for every 
young American?" 

"It may not exactly wait, but he can catch it easily." 

"It is said," I went on, "that any field or profession 
carefully followed, will bring material success. Is that 
the thing to be aimed at?" 

"Material success does not constitute an honorable 
aim. If that were true, a grasping miser would be the 
most honorable creature on earth, while a man like 
Gladstone, great without money, would have been an 
impossibilit} . The truth is that material success is 
usually the result of a great aim, which looks to some 
great public improvement. Some man plans to be an 
intelligent servant of some great public need, and the 
result of great energy in serving the public intelligently 
is wealth. It never has been possible to become notable 
in this respect in any other way. 

2l6 



U. S. Senator and Railroad President 

"It is often said that the excellent opportunities for 
young men are gone." 

"If you listen to ordinary comment," said Mr. De- 
pew, "you can come to believe that almost anything is 
dead — patriotism, honor, possibilities, trade — in fact, 
anything, and it's all according with whom you talk. 
There was a belief, not long ago, that the great orators 
were dead, and had left no successors. Papers and 
magazines were said to supply this excellent tonic. 
Yet orators have appeared, great ones, and in the face 
of the beauty and grace and fire which animates some 
of them, you read the speeches of the older celebrities, 
and wonder what was in them that stirred men." 

"And this field is also open to young men?" 

"Not as a profession, of course, but as a means to real 
distinction, certainly. The field was never before so 
open. I have listened to Stephen A. Douglas, with his 
vigorous argument, slow enunciation, and lack of mag- 
netism ; to Abraham Lincohi, with his resistless logic 
and quaint humor ; to Tom Corwin, Salmon P. Chase, 
William H. Seward, Charles Sumner, and Wendell 
Phillips ; and, as I look back and recall what they said, 
and the effect which they produced, and then estimate 
what they might do with the highly cultivated and crit- 
ical audiences of to-day, I see the opportunity that 
awaits the young man here. Only Wendell Phillips 
strikes me as having possessed qualities which are not 
yet duplicated or surpassed." 

217 



Chauncey M. Depew 

THERE IS MORE THAN ONE KIND OF SUCCESS. 

"You recognize more than one kind of success in 
this world, then?"' 

"Yes ; we can't all be presidents of the United States. 
Any man is successful who does well what comes to his 
hand, and who works to improve himself so that he 
may do better. The man with the ideal, struggling to 
carry it out, is the successful man. Of course, there 
are all grades of ideals, and the man with the highest, 
given the proportionate energy, is the most successful. 
The world makes way for that kind of young man." 

"Do you consider that happiness in the successful 
man consists in reflecting over what he has done or 
what he may do?" 

"I should say that it consists in both. No man who 
has accomplished a great deal could sit down and fold 
his hands. The enjoyment of life would be instantly 
gone if you removed the possibility of doing something. 
Whei through with his individual affairs, a man wants 
a wider field, and of course that can only be in public 
affairs. Whether the beginner believes it or not, he 
will find that he cannot drop interest in life at the end, 
whatever he may think about it in the beginning." 

"The aim of the young man of to-day should be, 
then—?" 

"To do something worth doing, honestly. Get 
wealth, if it is gotten in the course of an honorable 
public service. I think, however, the best thing to get 
is the means of doing good, and then doing it." 

218 



XIX 

A Chance-Found Book the Turning 
Point in a United States 
Senator's Career. 

HE wasn't much of a boy to look at, this DolUver 
boy of ten, trudging off to school every morn- 
ing in the West \^irginia hamlet of Kingwood, 
where the mountains are so brown in winter 
and so green in summer. To the master of the little 
subscription school he was Jonathan Prentiss Dolliver ; 
to the comrades of sport and study he was just plain 
"Prent," a sturdy little chap, whose hair refused to stay 
combed, whose clothes showed the rough-and-tumble 
of play, whose love for the mountains far exceeded his 
love of arithmetic. 

Somebody lost a copy of the ''Congressional 
Record" about that time, — a bound volume, containing 
many speeches of senators and representatives. 
*'Prent" found it. His boyish imagination was fired. 
Hour after hour he pored over its pages, committing 
to memory several of the passages in the speeches. 

One day the school committee called, — an auspic- 
ious event in the little schoolhouse. Young Dolliver 
was asked to give a declamation. To the astonishment 

219 



Jonathan P. DoUiver 

of all, the boy perfornied his task with force, vigor, 
clearness and almost eloquence. Where did he get it? 

"O, I can talk," he declared ; "dad's a preacher, you 
know." 

Thus climbed into his first forum the wdtty, eloquent, 
magnetic Dolliver, a United States senator from the 
state of Iowa at forty years of age. 

The match of ambition having been thus applied, the 
young lad studied to greater advantage. A superb 
mother made sacrifices to aid him. How these Ameri- 
can mothers have ever helped ! He took a course at 
the State University at Morgantown, West Mrginia. 
This was in 1875, and Prentiss was only seventeen 
when he stepped forth with his diploma in his hand. 

A SCHOOL TEACHER AT EIGHTEEN. 

At eighteen, he was a cotnitry school teacher himself. 
The scene is laid in \^ictor Center, Illinois, in a yellow 
schoolhouse ; and, while it is only a stepping-stone in a 
career full of more exciting episodes, it is worth while 
to note that the youth of eighteen was able to do wliat 
his predecessors had failed to accompHsh, — make an 
orderly, successful school out of a very turbulent lot of 
youngsters. On one occasion he quelled a fight by sim- 
ply looking at the combatants. 

The law, and the wide, free west captured the young 
man a few years later, the former for a profession, the 
latter for a home. Fort Dodge, Iowa, welcomed tlie 
little family in 1880, and there the future senator 

220 



United States Senator at Forty 

wrestled with life's serious problems in earnest. In- 
evitably he was drawn into politics, that field which 
always has use for men of active brain and silvery 
tongue. Dolliver had both. James G. Blaine, for 
whom he delivered scores of speeches, predicted, in 
1884, that this dark-haired young orator of the west 
would enjoy a conspicuous future. The prophecy was 
not long in reaching fulfilment. From 1890, when he 
was first elected to congress, until 1900, when he took 
his seat in the senate, he rose steadily in importance 
as a great leader and debater, until he had no superior 
in the great forum of the nation. 

His wit is one of the most attractive of his gifts. He 
can tell a story with wonderful effect. His keen sense 
of humor would have made him a comedian, if nature 
had not cast his other faculties in a more serious mould. 
Therefore, his fun only crops out at times. 

When I asked him when and where he first began 
to consider himself famous, he said : — 

"My first term in congress gave me my first sense 
of exaltation. The people up in the Iowa hills had a 
little lake, and they named it after me. Then a new 
postoffice was named in my honor, and a colored woman 
named her baby after me. I began to think of engag- 
ing a niche in some temple of fame. 

"But, in my second term. I was disillusioned. A cli- 
matic disturbance dried up the lake, free delivery wiped 
out the postoffice. and the child died, — and I found 
myself back at the very place whence I had started !'" 

221 



Jonathan P. Dolliver 

THE STRANGE RESULT OF A LECTURE. 

A few years ago Mr. Dolliver was invited to deliver 
a lecture in St. Paul and Minneapolis, Minnesota, be- 
fore the Young Men's Christian Association Lyceum. 
In each city, the hall was crowded wherein he spoke, 
some fifteen hundred young men attending. His topic 
was, "Chances for Young Men." 

"That," said he to me, "was a favorite topic with 
me. I believed in young men, and liked to talk with 
them, knowing full well that if one can stir them up to 
energy and ambition, he is doing a grand work in the 
world. 

"Well, I have not changed my opinion since the de- 
livery of that lecture ; but, when I got back to Wash- 
ington to resume my congressional duties, a week later, 
I began to hear from those particular young men. Let- 
ters began to pour in on me. They came in bunches of 
twos and threes ; then in dozens, and finally in basket- 
fuls. Every St. Paul and Minneapolis young man who 
had heard me declare that this is the young men's age, 
wrote that he fully agreed with me, — and asked me to 
get him a government job!" 

Mr. Dolliver's services to his party were particularly 
great in the controversy over the Porto Rican change 
of front by the administration. The president had, in 
his message to congress, in December 1899, favored 
the extending of unrestricted trade opportunities to the 
Porto Ricans ; but, later, seeing that such a course was 
opposed by many influential persons, and by several 

222 



United States Senator at Forty 

strong arguments, he advised the imposition of hght 
duties and the appHcation of the proceeds to the island's 
own use. In the conflict which at once arose in con- 
gress, DolHver's strong and eloquent plea alone saved 
the measure from defeat. 

HIS IDEA OF GENUINE SUCCESS. 

When I asked him what the true idea of success is, 
he replied, without a moment's hesitation : 

"Money-making is the cheapest kind of success. It 
doesn't indicate the highest development, by any means. 
I will give you a simple illustration, embodied in an 
incident which occurred this very day. A friend of 
mine, a professional gentleman of high mental attain- 
ments, had been offered a salary of ten thousand dollars 
a year by a corporation engaged in transportation. He 
was strongly tempted to take it, for he is working for 
the government at a salary of only five thousand dol- 
lars. He admitted to me, however, that he is capable 
of far greater usefulness, in his present work, than he 
would be in the employment of the railroad. There- 
upon I strongly advised him to reject the larger offer, 
and he has done so. My reason was simply that money 
does not measure one's place in the world, one's mental 
triumphs, or one's usefulness to humanity." 

"But money is a helpful factor in life," I urged, "and 
is considered indispensable, nowadays, in climbing up 
the ladder." 



Jonathan P. DoUiver 

"Well," he replied, "if I had a son and a hundred 
thousand dollars, I would keep them apart." 

In the senate a new member is not supposed to take 
part in debates, or even discussions. The atmosphere 
is not only dignified, but frozen. I strongly anticipate, 
however, that there will be a thawing out before long. 
The presence of Mr. Dolliver ought to act like an old- 
fashioned depot stove in a cold-storage room. 



224 



XX 

Varied Business Training the 
Foundation of a Long Political 
Career. 

THOMAS COLLIER PLATT has succeeded 
in business and in politics in a phenomenal 
manner. The reason is, he has had the native 
sagacity, energy and working ability of two 
ordinary men, and has fairly earned his place as a 
senator of the United States, as one of the political 
leaders of the nation, and as president of the United 
States Express Company. 

Last summer, as I sat on the porch of the Oriental 
Hotel at Manhattan Beach, for Mr. Piatt's return from 
his office, he came up the steps two at a time, with the 
elasticity of a man of forty. As I waited for him in 
the Fifth Avenue Hotel the other day, he came into the 
lobby looking very much jaded. He said : "I am very 
tired, after a week's session of the senate at Washing- 
ton. I have had a very busy day in New York. Come 
up to my room." 

Members of the legislature, local politicians, states- 
men of national renown, sent their cards to the senator's 
room before we were fairly seated. Wearied amid this 

225 



Thomas C. Piatt 

great press, Mr. Piatt took time to say some things 
about himself, and to indicate some of the elements of 
his success as an encouragement and inspiration to 
young men in the struggle of life. 
"Where were you born?" 
"In Owego, Tioga County, New York. 
"Mv ancestors were Americans. They were Yankees 
that came from Connecticut and ?ilassachusetts to New 
York state." 

"Do you believe in hereditary tendencies ?" 
"I do, most certainly. Blood tells. There is nothing 
so absolutely true as that blood tells in cattle, horses 
and men. My father was a devoted, consistent Presby- 
terian. The preachers almost counted my father's 
house a home when I was a boy. My father was my 
ideal of a man every way. He was one of the few men 
I ever saw whose everyday life completely harmonized 
with the Christian profession." 

"In your Puritan home, you had to toe the mark, did 
you not?" 

"Yes, my parents were strict ; but very tender. They 
never used the rod, because we were such exceptionally 
good children. We did not need it. I never saw father 
or mother raise their hand against a child. My father 
was a lawyer. He afterward became interested in real 
estate, taking charge of extensive timber and farm 
lands in the northwest, owned by a gentleman in Phila- 
delphia." 

226 



"Empire State" Republican Leader 

HIS START AS A BOY. 

"To what do you attribute the start you got as a boy 
on the road to success?" 

"To the principles of truth, honor, love, and labor, 
which were instilled into my mind in our quiet village 
home." 

"Where were you educated?" 

"I attended the Owego Academy. There was noth- 
ing out of the ordinary line in teacher or scholar. In 
the academy I prepared for Yale College, which I 
entered in 184 i). Ill health compelled me to give up 
my college course at the close of my sophomore year. 
Our class contained some of the most distinguished 
men ever graduated from the college. Wayne Mc- 
Veigh, Edmund Clarence Steadman. Isaac Brunile\-. 
Judge Shiras, of the Supreme Court of the United 
States ; Andrew D. White, ambassador to the court of 
Berlin, were among the number. Yale has grown 
marvelously since my day, and the student now has 
increased opportunity for knowledge, but I do not 
think that the grade of talent to-day is any better than 
in our time. In 187(5, Yale conferred on me the degree 
of master of arts." 

"Would you advise a \oung man, having a business 
life in view, to attend college?" 

"I would ! The intellectual (.liscipline, the social ad- 
vantages, the mental stimulus will be of profit to a 

227 



Thomas C. Piatt 

young man entering business in times of great enter- 
prises and heated competitions." 

ALWAYS FOND OF READING. 

"Were you a reader of books?" 

"I have always been fond of reading, and have read 
books to advantage, but for forty years I have been so 
engaged with business and poHtics that I have not had 
the time to gratify my taste for literature, which is 
strong. Reading is of great advantage to a young 
man, — that is, the reading of good books. 

"I was fortunate in my early friendships. A man's 
character and success are greatly effected by his 
friends. A man is known by the company he keeps. 
It used to be that a man was known by the newspaper 
he read. That is not so now." 
"Why?" 

"Because there are so many and so cheap that a 
man can and does take and read more than one. T 
read them all,— those which agree and those which 
disagree with me politically." 

"You are reputed to have been a fine singer when a 
young man." 

"I had a voice which gave me much delight and 
seemed to please others. I was for many years the 
leader of the Owego Glee Club, which was very popu- 
lar. W^e used to be called for as far as Elmira, Ithaca, 
Auburn, and Binghamton. With \\'ashington Glad- 
den to write the verses, our glee club to sing them, 

228 



''Empire Sr;itt,'" Republican Leader 

and Benjamin Tracy, a younp^ lawyer of the town, to 
make the speeches, we gave considerable inspiration 
to the social and political gatherings of our com- 
mnnity." 

A TASTE OF MINING LIFE 

"What was your first venture in business?" 
"On my return from Yale, I started a retail drug 
store in my native town, and contiiiued it for fifteen 
years. I then branched out in the lumber business in 
Michigan. I became connected with several local en- 
terprises, among them the bank, and a wagon factory." 
"You invested in a w^estern mine, did you not?" 
"Yes! I owned a third interest in a mine at Dead- 
wood, and in the winter of 1877 I decided to go out 
and see it. It was my first trip west, and I was not 
prepared for the hardships. I had to ride sixty hours 
from the end of the railroad to the camp. The Indians 
were on the war path and had killed a passenger on the 
stage that preceded ours. As I started to enter the 
coach, the driver said: 'Are you armed?' 'No/ said I. 
Taking a gun from the top of the stage, he gave it to 
me, and said, 'You will need it.' I told him I was a 
tenderfoot and did not know how^ to shoot. He showed 
me, and I took the gun with me. Luckily I did not 
need it. About the first thing I saw when I reached 
the camp was an example of frontier justice. Men, 
with a rope, were hunting for those v;ho had been guilt\- 
of holding up the stage. I found the claim in which I 

229 



Thomas C. Piatt 

was interested to be one of the richest in the vicinity, 
according to indications. We spent $G0,000 in work- 
ing the claim. I was offered half a million dollars for 
my interest in the property, which I declined. Just as 
we got to paying expenses, the mine played out." 
•'Did you make any of your money in speculation?" 
"I never made much money any way. and I never 
made any in speculation, or in politics. My political 
experience has cost me — not brought me money." 
"How happened you to come to New York?" 
"I came to Xew York as the general manager of the 
United States Express Company, and soon after, in 
18T9, I was elected president, which position I have 
held ever since." 

The United States Express Company began business 
in 1854. and had in Xew York City eight wagons and 
twenty men, including officers. Its mileage was less 
than COO miles. It now operates 30.000 miles of rail- 
roads, which is a larger mileage than that of any other 
single express company in the country. It lias ten 
thousand employees and five thousand offices. In New 
York City alone it has six hundred horses and two 
hundred and fifty wagons ; and other great cities of the 
country are correspondingly well equipped. For a 
dozen years the company has had the entire responsi- 
bility of carrying all government money and securities, 
except in a few states and territories, and it has trans- 
ported hundreds of millions of gold and silver and 
paper money without the loss of a penny to the govern- 

230 



"Empire State" Republican Leader 



dent 



cess 

tion to tnisinesf 



*» UCX^ ^Xi'-i ••-''-1 LMJ.J 

1- -__i-. :_ 



congress, where I served two terms. I was elected to 
"^'^ '----^- States senate in 18S1. and again two years 
; - -: Tanuari-." 



Paris was 
"It was 



and I have ha . 

2:11 



Thomas C. Piatt 

have tried to do my duty in my appropriate sphere as 
a representative of my state in the senate." 

"To what do you attribute your pohtical success?" 
"To fidelity to the political principles professed, and 
especially to my loyalty to my friends." 

ADVICE TO YOUNG MEN. 

"Would you advise a young man to enter the politi- 
cal field?" 

"By no means ! I should advise him to keep out of 
it. It is vexatious, unsatisfactory and unremunerative. 
I have requested my sons to keep out of politics, and 
they have wisely heeded the request." 

"Do you not think that it is the duty of a young man 
to hold office or in some way bear his share of the 
burdens of state?" 

"Certainly I do. That is a different thing. I re- 
ferred to the undesirable calling of a professional pol- 
itician." 

"What would you call the essential elements of suc- 
cess in life?" 

"Not one thing, or two things, but a number of 
them harmoniously blended, and crowned by a true 
sterling character. True success is not in making 
money, nor in securing power, nor in winning praise. 
It is in the building up of true manhood that merits 
and enjoys these things and employs them for the 
benefits and happiness of mankind." 

"I forgot to ask you about your health?" 

232 



"Empire State" Republican Leader 

"It has never been robust, but it has been good. I 
have been very careful in my habits, and have pre- 
served what bodily energy I needed for my life plans. 
Bodily vigor is necessary to the highest success in any 
business or profession." 

MR. platt's characteristics. 

The senator spoke like the courteous gentleman that 
he is. His bearing is simplicity and sincerity personi- 
hed. He made answer to my questions in a voice as 
delicate as a woman's, giving no hint of the dynamite 
behind it. I understand that it is his habit to econo- 
mize his strength and use no more on each occasion 
than is really required. Mr. Piatt is a serious man and 
yet he has a deep vein of humor. He likes a good joke 
and tells one well. He has a hearty laugh. He has 
great patience, but makes a hard fight wdien provoked. 
He is not tyrannical in victory or vengeful in defeat. 
He has a knowledge of human nature, a keen insight 
into men's motives, and has skill in playing upon them. 
He is a master in adjusting himself to events. He has 
a masterful will, but a remarkable faculty also for dis- 
arming instead of exciting antagonism. Altogether he 
seems well qualified to be a leader of men. 



233 



XXI 

A Magnate, the Courage of His Con- 
victions Make Him a Reformer. 

AT the time of the Civil war Tom L. Johnson 
was just old enough to begin to realize the 
significance of events ; he could remember his 
family's former affluence, and this memory 
served as a spur to urge him to the rehabilitation of 
broken fortunes. At the outbreak of the conflict his 
father, A. W. Johnson, had joined the Confederate 
army as a colonel, removing his wife and children, 
from the Kentucky homestead near Georgetown, to the 
south, and finally to Staunton, Virginia, for greater 
safety. There the boy Tom, who was born in 1854, 
spent four of the most impressionable years of his life, 
and there he earned his first dollar. 

HIS FIRST SPECULATION. 

'T am glad I was old enough to remember my home 
before the war," he said, in speaking of his early life. 
"Rightly or wrongly, I attach great importance to this 
fact as a constant incentive in my career. The thought 
of regaining the position which we had previously held 
was always with me." 

^34 



Railway Magnate and Single Taxt-r 

The five weeks immediate]} following Lee's surren- 
der were a golden time to Tom financially ; in that 
period, he earned eighty-eight dollars, enough to carry 
the family (which consisted of his parents and two 
younger brothers), back to Kentucky. This was the 
way he did it: There was, of course, great thirst for 
news in Staunton, as all over the country, but only once 
a day was Staunton in railwa_\- communication with the 
outside world. 

The boy saw his chance for a monopoly in news- 
papers and periodicals, and he straightway cornered 
the market. This he was enabled to do through the 
friendship of the conductor of Staunton's unique train, 
who refused to furnish papers to anyone else. For five 
weeks he held his monopoly, selling dailies at fifteen 
cents and illustrated periodicals at twenty-five cents 
each. 

When Johnson ceased to enjo>- these exclusive privi- 
leges, he was already a small capitalist, besides having 
learned a lesson that was not without profit in after 
life. He had eighty-eight dollars in silver. 

"T tell you, that seemed like a lot of sure 'nough 
money," he said, with a smile, "to us who had been 
paying one hundred dollars in Confederate notes for a 
hat." 

AT WORK IX A ROLLTNG MILL. 

Three years after he went to work in Louisville as 
clerk in an iron rolling mill, on a very small salary. In 
the same office with him was another lad, Arthur Mox- 



-:>:> 



Tom L. Johnson 

ham, who later became his business partner. For 
economical reasons, the managers of the mill decided 
that the services of one of the boys could be dispensed 
with, and it then came to a choice between them. Mox- 
ham was the one retained, and Johnson was turned out 
to commence over again. At the time, this looked like 
a misfortune, but it was really the best thing that could 
have happened. Before long, an opening with Louis- 
ville's ramshackle, broken-down-old-mule street railway 
presented itself, and the discharged mill clerk started 
on the career which was to lead to fortune. 

A FORTUNATE MISFORTUNE. 

"The decision which retained ]\Ioxham in the mill 
and turned me adrift," he said, "was both a wise and a 
fortunate one. Moxham was better suited to the posi- 
tion than I was, and, moreover, I was thus thrown into 
the work for which I was adapted." 

Quickly, the boy, who was then nearing manhood, 
passed from one place to another in the company's 
service until, after a few years, he became superinten- 
dent. Then he set about building up the railway and 
putting it on a paying basis. By a wise system of im- 
proving the accommodations and reducing the ex- 
penses, he was successful in this effort, and he forth- 
with began to look around for fresh fields for his ambi- 
tion. But, in the meantime, like most men who are 
conscious of their strength and ability to cope with the 
world, and like many who are not, he had entered upon 

236 



Railway Magnate and Single Taxer 

nuilriniony. His bride was his cousin, Miss Margaret 
J. Johnson, of Louisville, Kentucky. 

At the time of his marriage, Tom L. Johnson was 
but twenty, and was just beginning to get a secure foot- 
ing in business. But he was not content with his 
limited scope of action. Moreover, his employers 
wanted to help him forward, recognizing his ability. 
Of his own initiative, Biderman Du Pont, one of the 
owners of the railway, offered to his protege a loan of 
$30,000, with which to try his fortune. The possibility 
of security was, of course, out of the question. 

"Take it, Tom," he said, '"and if you live, I know 
you'll pay it back ; if you die, why, I'll be out just so 
much. But I'm gambling on your living." 

"And later,' remarked Mr. Johnson, 'T had the pleas- 
ure of associating two of Mr. Du Font's sons with me 
in business matters, and thus enjoyed the satisfaction 
of partially repaying his kindness. With the generous 
loan, the young financier organized a triumvirate for 
the purchase of the street railways of Indianapolis, 
thus taking the first step in the course which led him 
in turn to absorb the lines of Cleveland, Detroit. St. 
Louis, Brooklyn and other cities. In Indianapolis, he 
pursued, with benefit to himself, the system which had 
been successful in Louisville, — cheap fares and good 
accommodations, with increased transfer privileges. 

From that time on his career is an illustration of the 
benefits of expansion. The days of the cable and elec- 



Tom L. Johnson 

trie cars came, and the i.ew inventions were immedi- 
ately extended to the Unes under his control. By that 
time he had become strong enough to conduct his 
operations independently in his own behalf, or in con- 
i unction with Moxham, — whose retention in the mill, 
b\ the way, had been but of temporary benefit to him, 
owing to the failure of the concern. 

Like other practical men who have risen from the 
bottom of the ladder. :Mr. Johnson familiarized himself 
with every detail of his business, even to the mechanical 
difficulties involved. This he proved by inventing a 
brake for cable-cars, which came into extensive use. 

''progress and poverty" changed his whole life. 

One day, while traveling, Mr. Johnson came across 
a book which was destined to influence his career 
vitally. This book was Henry George's "Progress and 
Poverty." There, he thought, was the solution of the 
great social questions of the age, and from that moment 
he was an ardent "single-taxer." Indeed, the desire to 
benefit his fellowmen by opening their eyes to what he 
considered the truth, had become his first consideration 
in life, more important even than his business. Forth- 
with he set about to convert his father and partner, and 
when, soon thereafter, the chance for action on a larger 
stage presented itself, he was himself irresistibly im- 
pelled to seize it, despite distrust in his ow^n ability. 
Owing to his uniform plan of considering the comfort 
of the public in the operation of his railway lines, he 

238 



Railway Magnate and Single Taxer 

had earned for himself unsought popularity in the city 
of Cleveland, where rival companies had practiced a 
reactionary system of niggardliness and indifference. 
The reward came not only in financial prosperity, but 
also in the form of an unexpected nomination to con- 
gress. 

HIS VOLUNTEER GERMAN FRIEND. 

News of this honor reached Mr. Johnson while fish- 
ing, and his first impulse was to decline to run. But 
further thought led to a change of decision. Having 
decided, he acted. From that time until the election, 
he delivered a succession of public speeches, and the 
man who had distrusted his ability to address an audi- 
ence suddenly found that he was an orator. 

At ever\- one of his tent meetings was to be seen a 
stout old German, who always occupied a front seat, 
and who evidently felt a proprietary interest in the 
speaker, which he manifested by liberal and loud inter- 
jections of ''Bully Boy!" On one occasion, after a 
meeting, the German happened to be sitting next to 
Miss Johnson in the trolley car on the return trip. "Do 
you see that stout man down there?" he said, address- 
ing her ; "well, that's my friend, Tom Johnson. He's 
a great man ; I know him well. And that lady next to 
him, that's his wife." 

"Indeed," replied Miss Johnson, "and I happen to be 
his daughter." 

The old German was not one whit abashed. Spring- 



Tom L. Johnson 

ing to his feet, he held out his hand. "And I'm de- 
hghted to make your acquaintance, Miss Johnson !"" he 
cried, at the top of his voice; "I'm dehghted to meet 
any one belonging to Tom Johnson. Bully boy !" 

Like his German admirer, the people stood by Mr. 
Johnson, and he was elected a member of the Fifty- 
second and Fifty-third Congresses, in which he distin- 
guished himself by his frank criticism of the adminis- 
tration. 

HIS FIRST SPEECH IN CONGRESS. 

Mrs. Johnson's account of her husband's first speech 
in Congress is as dramatic and vivid as Baudet's de- 
scription of the trial in the "Nabob." Like the Nabob's 
mother, she was in attendance unknown to the principal 
actor ; but, in her case, this was due to intention, not 
accident. 

"I was alone in the stall of the gallery," she said, 
"save for one other woman, who was there evidently 
merely from curiosity, I was choking, trembling from 
excitement. There was a great, inarticulate noise in 
the chamber, the banging of desk-lids, the calling of 
n^.embers to pages, the murmur of voices in conversa- 
tion. Groups were scattered about the room ; members 
were reading ; no one was paying the slightest attention 
to the proceedings. Then Mr. Johnson arose, and I 
felt my heart stand still. Surely they would stop the 
noise, if only from common courtesy. But there was 
not an instant's cessation in the hubbub ; everything 
continued exactly as before. He began to speak, but I 

240 



Railway Magnate and Single Taxer 

could hardly catch the sound of his voice. I leaned 
forward and gripped the rail ; the confusion would dis- 
tract him; he would break down. Oh, how I hated 
those men who had no consideration for anyone but 
themselves. I felt the eyes of the other woman on me, 
sympathetically, pitying. Suddenly, someone cried 
'S-sh !' and there was an instant's cessation in the noise. 
But only for an instant. I was bending forward over 
the rail, my eyes fixed on the speaker, hoping, praying 
for his success. Suddenly, W. C. Breckenridge, who 
was sitting directly in front of him, lifted his eyes and 
caught sight of me, and started to rise to come up into 
the gallery. I raised my hand and motioned him back, 
for I feared Mr. Johnson might look up and see me. 
Mr. Breckenridge sank back in his seat again, and I 
breathed a sigh of relief." 

TOM REED LISTENED. 

"Then a wonderful thing happened A great, mas- 
sive figure arose on the Republican side of the house 
and came over and took a seat directly in front of the 
speaker. He had come over to hear what Mr. John- 
son was saying, and when Tom Reed came across to 
listen to a Democrat, everyone else listened, you may 
be sure. A hush fell on the house that remained un- 
broken until the speaker sat down in a burst of ap- 
plause. That was the happiest day of my life." 

A PEN PICTURE OF TOM JOHNSON. 

Mr. Johnson is short and stout, with clear-cut, strong 
241 



Tom L. Johnson 

features. His face is that of an orator, the eye clear 
and direct, the forehead high and commanding. The 
broad nose-bridge indicates physical strength, and the 
firm mouth and chin, strength of character. In face, 
he resembles William Jennings Bryan, but a strong 
sense of humor belies deeper resemblance. Unlike most 
rich men, he knows when he has enough, and to this 
conclusion, it seems, he has now arrived. 

"At the age of forty-five," he said to me, in his apart- 
ments at the Waldorf-Astoria, "I am fortunate enough 
to be able to retire from business and to devote myself 
to other pursuits. Except for two small matters, I 
may be said to be already out of business, and I have 
no intention of going into anything new. From now 
on I shall give all my energies to spreading the single- 
tax theory, either here or in England, where it seems 
to be making rapid progress. Exactly how this will be 
done, I don't know. I have always been a Democrat, 
and am one still, and I believe in organization ; but 
whether or not I shall work within party lines, I am 
not yet prepared to say. Still, I have my own ideas, 
although it is ratlier my custom to act than to talk in 
advance." 

Those who know Mr. Johnson will agree with him. 
I think. 



242 



XXII 

A Backwoods Boy Works His Way 
through College and Becomes 
University President. 

AT ten }ears of age he was a country lad on a 
backwoods farm on Prince Edward's Island. 
At thirteen, he had become a clerk in a 
country store, at a salary of thirty dollars 
a year. 

At eighteen, he was a college student, supporting 
himself by working in the evenings as a bookkeeper. 

At twenty, he had won a scholarship, in the Univer- 
sity of London, in competition with all other Cana- 
dian students. 

At twenty-five, he was professor of philosophy, 
Acadia College, Xova Scotia. 

At thirty-eight he was appointed President of Cor- 
nell University. 

At forty-four, he was chairman of President Mc- 
Kinley's special commission to the Philippines. 

In this summary is epitomized the career of Jacob 
Gould Schurman. It is a romance of real life such as 
is not unfamiliar in America. Mr. Schurman's career 
differs from that of some other self-made men, how- 



Jacob Gould Schurman 

ever. Instead of heaping up millions upon millions, he 
has applied his talents to winning the intellectual prizes 
of life, and has made his way, unaided, to the front 
rank of the leaders in thought and learning in this coun- 
try. His career is a source of inspiration to all poor 
boys who have their own way to make in the world, for 
he has won his present honors by his own unaided 
efforts. 

President Schurman says of his early life : — 
"It is impossible for the boy of to-day, no matter in 
what part of the country he is brought up, to appre- 
ciate the life of Prince Edward's Island as it was forty 
years ago. At that time, it had neither railroads nor 
daily newspapers, nor any of the dozen other things 
that are the merest commonplaces now^adays, even to 
the boys of the country districts. I did not see a rail- 
way until late in my 'teens. I was never inside a 
theater until after I was twenty. The only newspaper 
that came to my father's house was a little provincial 
weekly. The only books the house contained were a 
few standard works, — such as the Bible, Bunyan's 'Pil- 
grim's Progress,' Fox's 'Book of Martyrs,' and a few 
others of that class. Remember, too, that this was not 
back at the beginning of the century, but little more 
than a generation ago, for I was born in the year 1854. 
"My father had cleared away the land on which our 
house stood. He was a poor man. but no poorer than 
his neighbors. No amount of land, and no amount of 
work could yield much more than the necessaries of life 

244 



Educator and Statesman 

in that time and place. There were eight children in 
our family, and there was work for all of us. 

"Our parents were anxious to have their children ac- 
quire at least an elementary education ; and so, summer 
and winter, we tramped the mile and a half that lay 
between our house and the district school, and the snow 
often fell to the depth of five or six feet on the island, 
and sometimes, when it was at its worst, our father 
would drive us all to school in a big sleigh. But no 
weather was bad enough to keep us away. 

"That would be looked upon as a poor kind of school, 
nowadays, I suppose. The scholars were of all ages, 
and everything from A,-B,-C, to the Rule of Three, was 
taught by the one teacher. But whatever may have been 
its deficiencies, the work of the school was thorough. 
The teacher was an old-fashioned drillmaster, and 
whatever he drove into our heads he put there to stay. 
I went to this school summer and winter until I was 
thirteen, and by that time I had learned to read and 
write and spell and figure with considerable accuracy. 

"At the age of thirteen, I left home. I hadn't formed 
any definite plans as to my future. I merely wanted to 
get into a village and to earn some money. 

"My father got me a place in the nearest town, — 
Summerside, — a village of about one thousand inhabi- 
tants. For my first year's work I was to receive thirty 
dollars and my board. Think of that, young men of 
to-day ! Thirty dollars a year for working from seven 
in the morning until ten at night ! But I was gl^d to 



Jacob Gould Schurman 

get the place. It was a start in the world, and the little 
village was like a city to my country eyes." 

HE ALWAYS SUPPORTED HIMSELF. 

"From the time I began working in the store until 
to-day, I have always supported myself, and during all 
the years of my boyhood I never received a penny that 
I did not earn myself. At the end of my first year, I 
went to a larger store in the same town, where I was 
to receive sixty dollars a year and my board. My salary 
was doubled ; I was getting on swimmingly, 

"I kept this place for two years, and then I gave it 
up, against the wishes of my employer, because I had 
made up my mind that I wanted to get a better educa- 
tion. I determined to go to college. 

"I did not know how I was going to do this, except 
that it must be of my own efforts. I had saved about 
eighty dollars from my storekeeping, and that was all 
the money I had in the world. 

"When I told my employer of my plan, he tried to 
dissuade me from it. He pointed out the difficulties in 
the way of my going to college, and offered to double 
my pay if I would stay in the store." 

THE TURNING POINT OF HIS LIFE. 

"That was the turning-point in my life. On one side 
was the certainty of one hundred and twenty dollars a 
year, and the prospect of promotion as fast as I de- 
served it. Remember what one hundred and twenty 

246 



Educator and Statesman 

dollars meant in Prince Edward's Island, and to mc, a 
poor boy who had never possessed such a sum in his 
life. On the other side was my hope of obtaining an 
education, I knew that it involved hard work and self- 
denial, and there was the possibility of failure in the 
end. But my mind was made up. I would not turn 
back. I need not say that I do not regret that early 
decision, although I think that I would have made a 
successful storekeeper. 

"With my eighty dollars capital, I began to attend 
the village high school, to get my preparation for col- 
lege. I had only one year to do it in. My money would 
not last longer than that. I recited in Latin, Greek 
and algebra, all on the same day, and for the next 
forty weeks studied harder than I ever had before or 
have since. At the end of the year I entered the com- 
petitive examination for a scholarship in Prince of 
Wales College, at Charlotte Town, on the Island. I 
had small hope of winning it, my preparation had been 
so hasty and incomplete. But when the result was 
announced, I found that I had not only won the scholar- 
ship from my county, but stood first of all the competi- 
tors on the Island. 

"The scholarship I had won amounted to only sixty 
dollars a year. It seems little enough, but I can say 
now, after nearly thirty years, that the winning of it^ 
w^as the greatest success I have ever had. I have had 
other rewards, which, to most persons, would seeni 
immeasurably greater, but with this difference: that 

Ml 



Jacob Gould Schurman 

first success was 'essential ; without it I could not have 
gone on. The others I could have done without, if it 
had been necessary." 

For two years young Schurman attended Prince 
of Wales College. He lived on his scholarship and 
what he could earn by keeping books for one of the 
town storekeepers, spending less than one hundred 
dollars during the entire college year. Afterward, he 
taught a country school for a year, and then went to 
Acadia College in Nova Scotia to complete his college 
course. 

A SPLENDID COLLEGE RECORD. 

One of Mr. Schurman's fellow-students in Acadia 
says that he was remarkable chiefly for taking every 
prize to which he was eligible. In his senior year, he 
learned of a scholarship in the University of London 
offered for competition by the students of Canadian 
colleges. The scholarship paid five hundred dollars a 
year for three years. The young student in Acadia 
was ambitious to continue his studies in England, and 
saw in this offer his opportunity. He tried the ex- 
amination and won the prize in competition with the 
brightest students in the larger Canadian colleges. 

During the three years in the University of London, 
Afr. Schurman became deeply interested in the study 
of philosophy, and decided that he had found in it his 
life work. He was eager to go to Germany and study 
under th'e great leaders of philosophic thought. A way 

248 



Educator and Statesman 

was opened for him, through the offer of the Hibbard 
Society in London, of a traveling fellowship with two 
thousand dollars a year. The honor men of the great 
English universities like Oxford and Cambridge were 
among the competitors, but the poor country- boy 
from Prince Edward's Island was again successful, 
p^reatly to the surprise of the others. 

At the end of his course in Germany, Mr. Schurman, 
then a doctor of philosophy, returned to Acadia Col- 
lege to become a teacher there. Soon afterward, he 
was called to Dalhousie University, at Halifax, Nova 
Scotia. In 1886, when a chair of philosophy was es- 
tablished at Cornell, President White, who had once 
met the brilliant young Canadian, called him to that 
position. Two years later. Dr. Schurman became Dean 
of the Sage School of Philosophy at Cornell ; and, in 
1892, when the president's chair became vacant, he 
was placed at the head of the great university. At 
that time, he was only thirty-eight years of age. 

President Schurman is a man of great intellectual 
power, and an inspiring presence. Though one of the 
youngest college presidents in the country, he is one 
of the most successful, and under his leadership Cor- 
nell has been ver\- prosperous. He is deeply interested 
in all the aflfairs of young men. and especially those 
who, as he did, must make their own way in the world. 
He said, the other day : — 

"Though I am no longer engaged directly in teach- 
ing, I should think my work a failure if I did not feel 

249 



Jacob Gould Schurman 

that my influence on the young men with whom I come 
in contact is as direct and helpful as that of a teacher 
could be." 

COLLEGE-BRED MEN ARE IN DEMAND 

"It is true that there is an increasing, and just now, 
an unusual demand for college-bred men in all walks 
of life. The prescribed preliminaries to legal and 
medical education are, step by step, approaching 
graduation from college, and have reached it, in some 
instances, while these professional courses themselves 
have been extended and deepened, till they are now 
nearly or quite on a par with the old liberal training 
with which they are co-ordinated in the modern uni- 
versity. As to engineers, — fifteen years ago, the manu- 
facturers of machinery had to be coaxed to take those 
pioneers, the Cornell men, into their shops and give 
them a chance. But where one went, many followed. 
Last spring, when the class of 1900 came to gradua- 
tion, every student in this branch was eagerly bid for 
two or three times over. One great electrical firm 
alone asked to be given the entire class. There is ob- 
servable, too, a gradual increase in the call for college- 
bred teachers in the public schools, and this demand 
will grow by w"hat it feeds upon. 

"All this is but the sign and symbol of an increas- 
ing complexity and organization in our civilization. 
Rough-and-ready methods are going out, and the un- 
trained handy-man with them. In all directions, as 

250 



Educator and Statesman 

expanding American manufactures and commerce 
come into competition with those of Europe, it is 
daily more obvious that the higher skill and intelli- 
gence, making the closest use of its resources, will win. 
Nowadays, to do the work of the world as the world 
will have it done, and will pay for having it done, re- 
quires that a man be trained to the exactitude of scien- 
tific methods, and that he be given the wide mental 
outlook and the special training which he can acquire 
in the university, and nowhere else." 



2^ 



XXIII 

A ''Jack of All Trades" Masters One 
and Becomes the Poet of the 
People. 

JAMES WHITCOMB RILEY and I were at 
breakfast together, and the appearance of his cup 
of steaming coffee, into which he hastened to drop 
four full-sized blocks of sugar, threw the 
"Hoosier" poet into a train of reflections, for which he 
presently found expression. "They don't make coffee 
any more," he observed, in an almost aggrieved tone. 
"It is a lost art. You don't see any more the clear, 
transparent beverage that mother used to make. It's 
thick and murky, and, worse than all, it does no good 
to protest." 

It was a fortunate circumstance, however, this recall- 
ing a youthful remembrance, for it led him at once into 
a lively discussion of that part of his career, — his early 
struggles, — which possess for the average person, and 
often for the subject himself, far more interest and 
fascination than any later triumphs, no matter how 
complete. It is doubtful if there is in the literary world, 
to-day, a personage whose boyhood and young man- 
hood can approach in romance and unusual circum- 

252 



The "Hoosier" Poet 

stances that of the author of "The Old Swimniin' 
Hole." It was almost as if it were all a chapter from a 
fairy tale, to see the poet sitting there, calm and digni- 
fied, and to listen to his slow speech, in well-modulated 
voice, and still attempt to realize of what circumstances 
he had been a factor, what experience he had passed 
through. All tradition was against his accomplishing 
anything in the world. How, indeed, said the good 
folks of the little town of Greenfield, Indiana, could 
anything be expected of a boy who cared nothing for 
school, and deserted it at the first opportunity, to take 
up a wandering life. 

It is a wonder of wonders that from such a begin- 
ning should spring a poet whose ideals are among the 
noblest in American literature. "Ike Walton's Prayer," 
it would seem, must haye been spoken from the poet's 
heart. 

IKE Walton's prayer. 

1 crave, dear Lord, 

No boundless hoard 
Of gold and gear, 
Nor jewels fine. 
Nor lands, nor kinc. 
Nor treasure-heaps of anything. 
Let but a little hut be mine 
Where at the hearthstone I may hear 
The cricket sing, 
And have the shine 
Of one glad woman's eyes to make, 
For my poor sake, 



James Whitcomb Riley 

Our simple home a place divine: — 
Just the wee cot — the cricket's chirr — 
Love, and the smiling face of her. 

I pray not for 

Great riches, nor 

For vast estates, and castle halls. — 
Give me to hear the bare footfalls 
Of children o'er 
An oaken floor, 
New rinsed with sunshine, or bespread 
With but the tiny coverlet 

And pillow for the baby's head ; 
And pray thou, may 
The door stand open and the day 
Send ever in a gentle breeze. 
With fragrance from the locust trees. 
And drowsy moan of doves, and blur 
Of robins' chirps, and drone of bees, 
With after hushes of the stir 
Of intermingling sounds, and then 

The good-wife and the smile of her 
Filling the silences again — 
The cricket's call. 

And the wee cot, 
Dear Lord of all,. 
Deny me not ! 

I pray not that 

Men tremble at 

^ly power of place 

And lordly sway, — 
I only pray for simple grace 
To look my neighbor in the face 

^54 



The "Hoosier" Poet 

I'uU honestly from day lo day — 
"^ icld me his horny pahii to hold. 
And I'll not pray 
For gold : — 

The tanned face, garlanded with mirth. 
It hath the kingliest smile on earth — 
The swart brow, diamonded with sweat, 
Hath never need of coronet. 
And so I reach 

Dear Lord to Thee, 
And do beseech 
Thou givest me 
The wee cot. and the cricket's chirr, 
Love, and the glad sweet face of her ! 

THROWN ON HIS 0\V.\ RESOURCES. 

The boy's father, like almost all fathers, had aspira- 
tions. He wanted the boy to follow in his footsteps, in 
the legal profession, and he held out alluring hopes of 
the possibility of scaling even greater heights than any 
to which he had yet attained. Better still, — from the 
standpoint of the restless James, — he took the young- 
ster with him as he made his circuit from court to court. 
These excursions, for they were indeed such to the boy, 
sowed deep in his heart the seed of a determination to 
become a nomad, and it w^as not long until he started 
out as a strolling sign-painter, determined upon the 
realization of his ideals. Oftentimes business was 
worse than dull, and, on one occasion, hunger drove 
him for recourse to his wits, and lo, he blossomed forth 

-2-55 



James Whitcomb Riley 

as a ""blind sign-painter,"" led from place to place by a 
little boy, and showered with sympathy and trade in 
such abundance that he could hardly bear the thought 
of the relinquishment of a pretense so ingenious and 
successful, entered on at first as a joke. 

Then came another epoch. The young man fell in 
with a patent-medicine man. with whom he joined for- 
tunes, and here the young Indianian. who had been 
scribbling more or less poetry ever since he first essayed 
to compose a four-line valentine upon a writing table 
whose writing surface was almost as high as his head, 
found a new use for his talent, for his duties in the part- 
nership were to beguile the people with joke and song, 
while his co-worker plied the sales of his cure-all ; and, 
forsooth, there were many times when, but for his 
poetic fancy, Riley might have seen his audience dwin- 
dle rapidly away. It was while thus engaged that he 
had the opportunities which enabled him to master 
thoroughly the "Hoosier" dialect. When the glamour 
of the patent-medicine career had faded somewhat, 
Riley joined a band of strolling Thespians, and, in this 
brief portion of his life, after the wont of players of his 
class, played many parts. At length he began to give a 
little more attention to his literary work, and, later, ob- 
tained a place on an Indianapolis paper, where he pub- 
lished his first poems, and be it said that they w^on their 
author almost instant success. 

2 56 




COURTSHIP 



The "Hoosier* Poet 

WHY HE LOXGED To BE A BAKER. 

When I drew Riley out to talk still further of those 
interesting days, and the strange experiences which 
came to him therein, the conversation finally turned on 
the subject of his youthful ambitions. "I think my 
earliest remembered one," he said, "was an insatiate 
longing to become a baker. I don't know what 
prompted it, unless it was the vision of the moun- 
tains of alluring 'goodies,' which, as the}- are ranged in 
the windows of the pastry shops, appear doubly tempt- 
ing to the vouth whose mother not only counsels 
moderation, but enforces it. 

"Next, I imagined that I would like to become a 
showman of some sort, and then my shifting fancy con- 
jured up visions of how grand it would be to work as a 
painter, and decorate houses and fences in glowing 
colors, but finally, as I grew a little older, there returned 
my old longing to become an actor. When, however, 
mv dreams were realized, and I became a member of a 
traveling theatrical company, I found that the life was 
full of hardships, with very little chances of rising in 
the world. I never had any literary ambition whatever, 
so far as I can remember. I wrote, primarily, simply 
because I desired to have something to read, and could 
not find selections that exactly suited me. Gradually T 
found a demand for my little eflforts springing up. and 
so my brother, who could write legibly, transcribed 
them." 



James Whitcomb Riley 

THE SUPERSTRUCTURE DEPENDS ON THE FOUNDATION. 

"Mr. Riley," I said, "I came here to see you to-day 
in behalf of the thousands of people who are seeking to 
make progress, or gain a start in business or profes- 
sional life, and I suppose that the tastes of some of them 
incline to the literary field. Can't you give me your idea 
of the prime requisites for success in thefieldof letters?" 

"The most essential factor is persistence, — the deter- 
mination never to allow your energy or enthusiasm to 
be dampened by the discouragements that must inevita- 
blv come. I believe that he is richer for the battle with 
the world, in any vocation, who has great determination 
and little talent, rather than his seemingly more fortu- 
nate brother with great talent, perhaps, but little deter- 
mination. As for the field of literature, I cannot but 
express my conviction that meteoric flights, such as 
have been taken, of recent years, by some young writers 
with whose names almost everybody is familiar, cannot 
fail to be detrimental, unless the man to whom success 
comes thus early and suddenly is an exceptionally 
evenly-balanced and sensible person. Many persons 
have spoken to me about Kipling's work, and remarked 
how wonderful a thing is the fact that such achieve- 
ments could have been possible for a man compara- 
tively so young. I say, not at all. What do we find 
when we investigate? Simply that Kipling began 
working on a newspaper when he w^as only thirteen 
years of age. and he has been toiling ever since. So 

258 



The "Hoosier" Poet 

you see, even that case, when we get at the inner facts, 
confirms my theory that every man must be 'tried in the 
fire,' as it were. He may begin early or late, and in 
some cases the fight is longer than in others, but of one 
thing I feel sure, that there is no short-cut to perma- 
nent, self-satisfying success in literature, or anything 
else." 

A LITERARY LIFE MEANS WORK. 

When he was asked for his opinion on the subject of 
the expansion of Indiana literature, Mr. Riley said : — 

"I do not know what I should say about Indiana 
literature and the causes of its growth. I think, possi- 
bly, the reason it has attracted such wide attention, and 
expanded in so many directions, is that it drew inspira- 
tion and received impetus from having been lampoonec 
and made fun of by every cultured 'Tom, Dick, anc 
Harry' of the outside world. 

"Personally, the world has always been kind to me, 
but I do not know that I expected kindness. 

"It is glorious to be barred,— to suffer the whips and 
scorn of self-accredited superiors! It roused us, this 
superciliousness, to our real worth, and it inspired us 
to put forth our best efforts. That excellence in litera- 
ture is found in Indiana I am thankful for. and I am 
glad that I have outlived the ridicule, and that others 
have recognized, of late, this special excellence of the 
work of our authors, and given credit most generously. 

"I am sure that the same excellence will be found in 
our neighboring western states, and that we, in turn, 

259 



James Whitcomb Riley 

will not withhold from tliem encourageineiit raid recog- 
nition. Illinois has already developed some rare poets. 
Ohio, too, ranks high in western literature. 

"The beginner, with his youthful imagination just 
' ramping it," is too sensitive to the pricks of criticism. 
He stands in awe of the self-constituted critic, until he 
cannot see anytliing else, and, necessarily, loses sight of 
the \-alue of ideas, which count more than all else. He 
can never make up the loss in years. Indeed, he can 
never regain it. It is expecting to be a writer in six 
months or a year that makes him tliink himself a 
failure. 

*'A Uterar\- Hfe means work. He who would write 
must learn that, and leam to work hard. Look at Bem- 
hardt's art ; look at the amount of hard work she goes 
through ever}' day to make it perfect. How many 
writers do as she does ? Xo good thing was ever done 
quickly, — ^nothing of any value. The capacity for hard 
w-ork has had much to do with the development of 
Indiana literature." 

A COLLEGE EDUCATION IS AX ADVANTAGE. 

Answering other questions, the poet said : "A college 
education for the aspirant for literary success is. of 
course, an advantage, provided he does not let educa- 
tion foster a false culture that will lead him away from 
his true ideals and the ideals he ought to cling to. 
There is another thing that the young man in any artis- 
tic pursuit must have a care for. and tliat is. to be prac- 

260 



Tne "Hoosier' Poet 

'"his 15 £ prsTdcai woryL an-d ii i= ahraj? readj 

iivin^^r- :: :>-r ^:-: :: Zrr.'U ^t 'ha. ii be 

«-. - he n£giit 

ai .- - — : ...:.-. ^ it were, 

ind rmist tr.' to cnlnTate a pracDcal basmess sease, a? 
well as an a—'--: ^ '- "" -v r doIj a few men Hke 
Rudy arc Ki' _ a SmhiL. wbo seea 

- ■ ' " ' ::rr in jast 

nniorta- 
. r author? 
-. —•ore of 



Tinea as 

_ : . _ _ ^ -- -erina: Eie, 

_-. insigfci into tbe srmggie f-3r exist- 

---- -- -.rmmbere'i imhiind^ of bis fel- 



ais travel ana ic'cmeys, ra 



rrr. His 
pc-ini ^t z^-^r^-. 'j:.t\ irt jLUt :: i ~in wbo feels 
as he writes. As Thorean painted nanre in ih^ T/^oC'is. 
and streams, and lakes, s-d Riley depicts th- - ■ - 

of e-rrv^iv '-ff 2.-d brigbtais each fandHar 
w:: i: makes all tbe world kin, y^ms: of 

hif ::_ 1 : , ^ "Old Glo- " I: -ei^:? thr ^-rely. 

sterling patriotism of tbe co~ 

"The Linle Coat" illnsCTatc^ .... .:-_;::_ . . :r to 



261 



James Whitcomb Riley 

THE LITTLE COAT, 
Here's his ragged "roundabout," 

Turn the pockets inside out; 
See : his pen-knife, lost to use, 
Rusted shut with apple-juice; 
Here, with marbles, top and string. 
Is his deadly "devil-sling," 
With its rubber, limp at last. 
As the sparrows of the past ! 
Beeswax — buckles — leather straps — 
Bullets, and a box of caps, — 
Not a thing of all, I guess. 
But betrays some waywardness — 
E'en these tickets, blue and red. 
For the Bible verses said — 
Such as this his memory kept — 

"Jesus wept." 
******* 

Here's the little coat— but O ! 
Where is he we've censured so ! 
Don't you hear us calling, dear? 
Back ! come back, and never fear. 
You may wander where you will. 
Over orchard, field and hill; 
You may kill the birds, or do 
Anything that pleases you ! 
Ah,, this empty coat of his ! 
Every tatter worth a kiss ; 
Every stain as pure instead 
As the white stars overhead ; 
And the pockets — homes were they 
Of the little hands that play 
Now no more — but. absent, thus 

Beckon us. 

262 



XXIV 

A Farm Boy Who Devoured Books 
Writes One of the Greatest 
Poems of the Century. 

THE international discussion of "The Man with 
the Hoe" had hardly subsided, when popular 
interest was revived by the remarkable 
declaration of the author, Mr. Edwin Mark- 
ham, that he had spent ten years in its production. 

Who is this magician of the pen. this man of mys- 
tery, who carries his readers, in a single sentence, 
through "a storm of stars," and, in another, kneels 
with them in dreamy sympathy beside "the brother to 
the ox,"— who mixes up the critics in a hopeless tangle 
of doubt, and puzzles the public by the erratic chronol- 
ogy of his mental processes ? 

The widespread interest in the personality of the 
poet may justify the attempt of the writer to get at the 
"true inwardness" of his life-story. This has not yet 
been told. 

This handsome dreamer, whose eyes are softer than 
a fawn's, and whose gray-tinged locks give an un- 
wonted majesty to his mien, is only about fifty years 
old. Yet, in his span of life, he has been engaged in 

263 



Edwin Markham 

half a score of vocations, ranging from the exciting 
and strenuous to the peaceful and poetic. The discov- 
ery that he was once a village blacksmith promises to 
lend interest to a new phase of his distinguished career. 

THE MAN WITH THE HOE. 
(Written after seeing Millet's World-Famous Painting.) 

"God made man in His own image, 

in the image of God made He him."— Genesis. 

Bowed by the weight of centuries he leans 

Upon his hoe and gazes on the ground, 

The emptiness of ages in his face. 

And on his back the burden of the world. 

Who made him dead to rapture and despair, 

A thing that grieves not and that never hopes, 

Stolid and stunned, a brother to the ox? 

Who loosened and let down this brutal jaw? 

Whose was the hand that slanted back this brow? 

Whose breath blew out the light within this brain? 

Is this the Thing the Lord God made and gave 
To have dominion over sea and land; 
To trace the stars and search the heavens for power ; 
To feel the passion of Eternity? 
Is this the dream He dreamed who shaped the suns 
And pillared the blue firmament wMth light? 
Down all the stretch of Hell to its last gulf 
There is no shape more terrible than this— 
More tongued with censure of the world's blind greed- 
More filled with signs and portents for the soul- 
More fraught with menace to the universe. 

264 



Fiirni Boy, Blacksmith, I't-acht-r, Poet 

What gulfs between him and the seraphim ! 

Slave of the wheel of labor, what to him 

Are Plato and the swing of Pleiades? 

What are the long reaches of the peaks of snnp. 

The rift of dawn, the reddening of the rose? 

Through this dread shape the suffering ages look ; 
Time's tragedy is in that aching stoop ; 
Through this dread shape humanity betrayed. 
Plundered, profaned and disinherited, 
Cries protest to the Judges of the World. 
.\ protest that is also prophesy. 

O masters, lords and rulers in all lands, 

Is this the handiwork you give to God, 

This monstrous thing, distorted and soul-qucnchcd ? 

How will you ever straighten up this shape : 

Touch it again with immortality; 

Give back the upward looking and the light ; 

Rebuild in it the music and the dream ; 

Make right the immemorial infamies, 

Perfidious wrongs, immedicable woes? 

O masters, lords and rulers in all lands, 
How will the Future reckon with this Man? 
How answer his brute question in that hour 
When whirlwinds and rebellion shake the world? 
How will it be with kingdoms and with kings — 
With those who shaped him to the thing he is— 
When this dumb Terror shall reply to God 
After the silence of the centuries? 

OXE OF THE GRE.\T POEMS OF THE CENTURY. 

No Other poem published in America in many years 
has so stirred the emotions of the people, commande.j 



265 



Edwin Markhain 

so much attention and created so much comment as 
'•The Man with the Hoe." It and KipHng's "Reces- 
sional" are regarded as the great poems of the closing 
years of the century. The critics have hailed "The 
Man with the Hoe" as a prominent piece of political 
literature, because of the breadth and depth and vital 
importance of the theme, and the fervor and noble 
dignity of its treatment. Yet the poem has been mis- 
interpreted and assailed. It has been said to be an 
afifront to manual labor. The only answer Mr. Mark- 
ham has thus far made to his critics he dictated to the 
writer. He also spoke, for the first time for publica- 
tion, of his mother, and her all-pervading influence on 
his early life, of his youthful days, and of his own 
experience with the hoe. 

Mr. Markham's poetry proves that his paramount 
quality is his deep sympathy with suflFering. The most 
marked thing in his personality is his humanity, which 
effuses, so to speak, in a spontaneous geniality and un- 
affected interest in others. He laughs easily and tells 
a story extremely well. 

HIS MOTHER WAS BOTH PRACTICAL AND POETIC. 

"I am a very serious man at heart," he remarked to 
me, "but, fortunately, I have a sense of humor. I will 
confess that the attention attracted by "The Man with 
the Hoe' has surprised me, and the comments of some 
of the gentlemen who have condescended to criticise 
the poem are amusing. They seem to miss entirely its 

266 



Farm Boy, Blacksmith, Ttacher, Poet 

true spirit and meaning, and yet speak with most com- 
placent confidence. I, — O, you want me to start at 
the heginning of my life and proceed in an orderly 
manner, do you? Well, I have said little for print 
ahout my early days, hut get out your pencil and I will 
dictate you something. 

"That most important event, my birth, occurred in 
Oregon City, Oregon, on April 23, 1852. My school- 
ing began when I was about four years old. in a primi- 
tive little school in my native town. 

"While he instilled in my youthful mind the princi- 
ples of the alphabet and other important knowledge, 
it was the influence of my mother, — my father having 
died, — that dominated me. She was, in some respects, 
the most extraordinary woman I have ever know-n, — a 
woman of strong likes and dislikes, and capable of 
holding on to a purpose to the end. She kept a large 
store of general merchandise in Oregon City, and con- 
ducted the business with remarkable energ\'. But, 
despite her hard common sense and practical ability, 
she was known as the 'Woman Poet of Oregon.' It 
was from her, of course, that I got my own poetical 
bent. Her poetry was full of feeling and earnestness, 
and was impressed with a strong religious spirit. It 
was published chiefly in newspapers at the time, and I 
presume I am the only person in the world who now 
has any of it." 

HE GAINED VALUABLE DISCIPLINE ON A FARM. 

"When I was still a small boy. mother moved to 
267 



Edwin Markiiani 

California. She settled in a little wild valley amid 
the hills in the central part of the state, on a sheep 
range that she had bought. I was chief herder. 
All day long I followed the herd over ridge and hollow, 
and along the hillsides into the blue distance. I ab- 
sorbed woodcraft and weather-wit, and a love of na- 
ture which has been one of the predominating influ- 
ences of my life. 

"After a few years, we turned our place into a 
cattle range and farm, with myself as chief farmer. I 
was just entering my 'teens' then. I fenced and 
plowed the land straggling up the little valley, and 
learned every detail of a farmer's work and life. The 
hoe, the shovel, the scythe, the cradle, the reaper, the 
threshing machine, the grafting knife, — these are all 
old friends of mine. When I began to near young 
manhood, I became a thresher, going from farm to 
farm, helping to thresh out the grain after the harvest 
home, and often sleeping at night in hay-mows. 

byron's poems inspired him. 

''Meanwhile, I devoured all the poetry I could find. 
I read Byron's poems more than any other's, because a 
complete set of his works was at hand, and as a result 
of his iafluence I wrote, when about sixteen, a very 
ambitious poem called, 'A Dream of Chaos.' This was 
only one of my youthful indiscretions in the poetical 
line. No, I don't believe the general public will ever 

268 



Farm Boy, Blacksmith, Teacher, Poet 

be asked to read them. It has been kind to nie, and 
deserves fair treatment." 

"Rut, Mr. Markham, did you not find that your hard 
farm labor tended to crush out the poetry, and finer 
feelings generally?" 

ANSWERING HIS CRITICS. 

"Oh, you are now getting on ticklish ground, for it 
is here that the critics of The Man with the Hoe' con- 
gregate and jubilate. Let me say briefly, though, in 
answer to you and to them, that I believe in labor, that 
I believe in its humanizing and redeeming power. In- 
deed, from a religious point of view, I believe that a 
man's craft furnishes the chief basis of his redemption. 
While one is making a house, he is making himself. 
While he chisels the block of marble he is invisibly 
shaping his own soul. And it does not matter much 
what a man does, — whether he builds a poem or hoes 
in a garden. The chief thing is the way we do our 
work. It must be done thoroughly, and in the spirit 
of loving service. Work of this order is a perpetual 
prayer. The doer is elevated by such work. 

"But, while all this is true, it is also true that ex- 
cesses are evils, — that overwork and underpaid work 
tend to break down instead of build up. Work is good 
for the child, but I can put such heavy burdens upon 
him as to deform his body and stunt his mind. 

" The ]\Ian with the Hoc' is, of course, the type of 
industrial oppression in all lands and in all parts of 

269 



Edwin Markham 

Ia])or. He is the man who has been chained to tlic 
wheel by the fierce necessity for bread, — the man with 
no time for rest, no time for study, no time for thought, 
no time for the mighty hopes that make us men. The 
poem is not a protest against labor; it is a protest 
against the degradation of labor." 

SEED SOWN LONG AGO. 

Speaking of the waiting of this poem, Mr. Mark- 
ham said that he sketched the outline of it fourteen 
years ago, upon seeing a photograph of Millet's famous 
painting, "The Man with the Hoe." When he saw the 
picture itself four years afterward, he further elabor- 
ated the idea, but did not write it out in complete form 
until Christmas week, 1900. He then spent three or 
four days on it, and sent it to the San Francisco Ex- 
aminer, where it was published for the first time on 
the eighth of January 1901. 

Within a few months, the volume, "The Man with 
the Hoe and other Poems," was issued by Doubleday 
and McClure, of New York, and met with so large 
a sale that i1 was soon in its fifth edition. It has been 
very favorably received. 

Mr. Markham paid his way through the state nor- 
mal school at San Jose, and afterward through Chris- 
tian college at Santa Rosa, California. He has done 
important educational work in that state as a superin- 
tendent and principal of schools in various places, and 
is now head master of the Tompkins observation 



Farm Boy, Blacksmith, Teacher, Poet 

school in Oakland. Inducements have been offered 
him to deliver a series of lectures throughout the coun- 
try, and he has received many requests for literary 
work, with some of which he will comply. 

The world is well lost when the world is wrong, 
No matter how men deride you : 

For if you are patient and firm and strong. 
You will find in time, though the time be long. 
That the world wheels round beside you. 

— F-r-T-A Wheeler Wilcox. 



271 



XXV 

A Famous Authoress Tells Literary 
Aspirants the Story of Her 
Struggle for Recognition. 

BORN and reared in Wisconsin, Ella Wheeler 
Wilcox, although a resident of New York, is 
still faithful to the ideals and aspirations of the 
young and vigorous western state in which she 
first saw the light. She began writing at an early age, 
and still has in her possession childish verses, com- 
posed when she was only eight years old. 

She was, however, far from any literary center ; she 
had no one upon whom she might rely for advice as 
to her methods, and she had no influential friends, for 
her family was not a wealthy one. The usual difficul- 
ties, so familiar to all beginners, met her at every step; 
discouragements were endured day after day, and year 
after year. After a while, she began writing for 
various periodicals. Her first poems appeared in the 
New York Mercury, the Waverly Magazine, and 
Leslie's publications. It was from the publishing house 
of Frank Leslie she received her first check. Her in- 
come from literary work was very small and recog- 

272 



FofX and Essayist 

nition canic quite slowly. Liiu courage, aud patience, 
and fortitude, finally won the da> . 

HOW HER liEST POEMS WERE WRITTEN. 

One of her most famous poems, beginning, "Laugh 
and the World Laughs with You," was written about 
February, 1883, at Madison, Wisconsin. She had 
talked with a friend who had been bereaved by death in 
her household : later, while dressing for an inaugural 
ball, given in honor of the governor of Wisconsin, she 
w^as startled to think how soon the mind turns from 
stories of sorrow to scenes of gayety. Thus she 
formed the idea of this famous poem. It originally 
appeared in the New York Sun, and the author re- 
ceived five dollars for it. Subsequently, an attempt was 
made to pirate the verses as the composition of an- 
other ; but the effort was, happily, a complete failure. 
The poem embodying the idea, — 

■"A question is never settled 
Until it is settled right," 

with which W. J. Bryan concludes his book, was writ- 
ten 1)\- her after hearing a gentleman make a remark 
in those words at the conclusion of a heated argument, 
on the single-tax question. The gentleman was after- 
ward told that Lincoln had made use of this exact 
expression, years ago. But neither the gentleman in 
question, nor Mrs. Wilcox herself, had ever heard tin- 
expression before. 

^73 



Ella Wheeler Wilcox 

"The Two Glasses," one of her brightest poems, 
was written at the age of eighteen. Although this was 
a "temperance poem," she had never, up to that time, 
seen a glass of beer or wine. This poem, too, was 
pirated by one who pretended to be the author. 

"The Birth of the Opal" was suggested by Herman 
]\Iarcus, the Broadway jeweler, who advanced the idea 
of the opal being the child of the sunlight and moon- 
light. 

"Wherever You Are," originally appeared in Les- 
lie's Popular Monthly. A young man who had served 
a term in Auburn Prison read this poem, and it became 
the means of his reformation. Mrs. Wilcox lent him 
a helping hand, and he is to-day a hard-working, 
honest, worthy man. 

She regards the poems, "High Noon." "To An As- 
trologer," and "The Creed." as probably her best 
efforts. It will thus be noted that she does not prefer 
the more fervid poems of passion, written in her early 
youth. 

THE CREED. 
Whoever was begotten by pure love, 

And came desired and welcomed into life, 
Is of immaculate conception. He 
Whose heart is full of tenderness and truth, 
Who loves mankind more than he loves himself, 
And cannot find room in his heart for hate, 
May be another Christ. We all may be 
The Saviors of the world, if we believe 

^74 



Poet and Essayist 

In the Divinity which dwells in us, 
And worship it, and nail our grosser selves,. 
Our tempers, greeds, and our unworthy aims 
Upon the cross. Who giveth love to all. 
Pays kindness for unkindness, smiles for frowns. 
And lends new courage to each fainting heart. 
And strengthens hope and scatters joy abroad, 
He, too, is a Reedemer, Son of God. 

Mrs. Wilcox lives in New York City from Novem- 
ber to :May, and in her cottage at Short Beach, Con- 
necticut, during the rest of the year. Her husband. 
R. M. Wilcox, is a clear-headed business man, of pol- 
ished manners, kind and considerate to all whom he 
meets, — one who, in short, is deservedly popular with 
all the friends of the happy couple. The summer house 
at Short Beach is especially charming. It is in full 
view of the Long Island Sound, with a fine beach in 
front, and a splendid sweep of countr>- at the rear. 

SHE IS A PROXOUXCED OPTIMIST. 

As to "literary methods," Mrs. Wilcox has few 
suggestions to make, except to recommend hard work, 
conscientiously performed. She is untiring in her own 
efforts at rewriting, revising and polishing her pro- 
ductions, and cannot rest imtil every appearance of 
crudeness and carelessness is effaced. Her manuscripts 
are always neat, always carefully considered, and never 
prepared in undue haste. She believes that no writer 
can succeed who is a pessimist. She is. therefore, an 
optimist of the most pronounced type, and believes that 

'-IS 



Ella Wheeler Wilcox 

all poems should be helpful not hurtful ; full of hope, 
and not of despair ; bright with faith, and not clouded 
by doubt. 

"What is your view of the first duties of a young- 
author ?" she was asked, and replied : 

"The first thing necessary for you to do is to find 
out your own motive in choosing- a literary career. If 
you write as the young bird sings, you need no advice 
from me, for your thoughts will find their way out, as 
natural springs force their way through rocks, and 
nothing can hinder you. But if you have merely a 
well-defined literary ability and taste, you should con- 
sider carefully before undertaking the difficult task of 
authorship. 

"An author should be able to instruct, entertain, 
guide or amuse his readers. Otherwise, he has no 
right to expect their attention, time or money. If it is 
merely a question of money, you would be wise to wait 
until you have a comfortable income, sufficient to main- 
tain life during the first ten years of literary pursuits. 
Save in rare cases of remarkable genius, literature re- 
quires ten years of apprenticeship, at least, before 
yielding support to its followers. But be sure that 
you help, — not harm, himianity. To the author, of all 
men, belongs the motto, 'Xoblcsse oblige.' " 

DO NOT FEAR CRITICISM. 

"Unless you are so absorbed in your work (hat you 
utterly forget the existence of critics or reviewers, you 

276 



Poet and Essayist 

have no right to call yourself a genius. Talent thinks 
with fear and fawning of critics ; genius does not re- 
member that they exist. One bows at the shrine of 
existing public opinion, which is narrow with preju- 
dice. The other bows at the shrine of art. which is as 
broad as the universe." 

"How do you think a young author should proceed 
to obtain recognition ?" 

"In regard to the practical method of getting one's 
work before the public, I would beg that you would not 
send it to any well-known author, asking him or her to 
'read, criticize, correct, and find a publisher for you.' 
If such a thought has entered your head, remember 
that it has entered the heads of five hundred other 
amateurs, and the poor author is crushed under an 
avalanche of badly-written manuscripts, not one of 
which he has time to read. Xo editor will accept what 
he does not want, through the advice of any author, 
however famous. 

"Do not attempt to adopt the style of anyone else. 
Unless you feel that you can be yourself, do not try 
to be anybody. A poor original is better than a good 
imitation, in literature, if not in other thngs. 

"Expect no aid from influential friends in any way. 
The more wholly you depend upon yourself, the sooner 
will you succeed. 

"It is absolute nonsense to talk about 'influence' with 
editors or jniblishers. Xo one ever achieved even pass- 
ing fame or success in literature through influence or 

^77 



Ella Wheeler Wilcox 

'friends at court.' An editor might he influenced to 
accept one article, but he would never give permanent 
patronage through any influence, however strong. 

"As I receive so many hundreds of letters asking 
how I found my way into print, and through what in- 
fluences, it may be pardonable for me to say a few 
words regarding my own experiences. In the first 
place, I never sent a manuscript to any human being 
in my life, to ask for an opinion or influence. I always 
send directly to the editors, and I am not aware that 
any influence was ever used in my behalf. I have often 
had an article refused by six editors and accepted by 
the seventh. An especially unfortunate manuscript of 
mine w^as once rejected by eight periodicals, and I was 
about to consign it to oblivion, when, at a last venture, 
I sent it to the ninth. A check of seventy-five dollars 
came to me by return mail, with an extremely compli- 
mentary letter from the editor, requesting more articles 
of a similar kind." 

MERIT IS NOT ALWAYS DISCOVERED QUICKLY. 

"Very few authors have lived to attain any degree of 
fame without receiving back their cherished yet unwel- 
come manuscripts from the hands of one or more un- 
appreciative editors before they met the public eye. 

"It is reported of 'David Harum' that six publishers 
rejected it previous to its final publication. 

"Archibald Gunter's book, 'Mr. Barnes of New 
York,' went the rounds of the various publishing 



Poet and Essayist 

houses, only to be rejected by all. Then Mr. Gnnter 
rose to the occasion, published it himself, and reaped a 
small fortune from its sales. 

"Many a successful short story and poem passes 
through the 'reading' department of a half-dozen 
magazines and weeklies without having its merit dis- 
covered until a seventh editor accepts it. 

"Poems of my own, which have later met much favor 
from the public, I have seen return with a dejected and 
dog-cared air, from eight or nine offices, whither they 
had gone forth, like Xoah's dove, seeking for a rest- 
ing place. A charming bit of verse, written by a friend 
of mine, took twenty-one journeys from the maternal 
hand to the editor's table before it found an appreciative 
purchaser. 

"If the young writer will stop and consider that each 
editor has his own individual ideas of what he wants, 
both in verse and prose, and that, just as no two faces 
are alike, no two minds run in the same groove, — he 
may be hopeful for the ultimate acceptance of the 
darling of his brain, if he will persevere. Of course, 
this refers to a writer who possesses actual talent." 

EDITORS ARE ANXIOUS FOR GOOD ARTICLES. 

"No more absurd idea ever existed than that of the 
efficacy of 'influence' in literature. An editor will buy^ 
what he thinks his readers will appreciate. He will 
not buy anything which he feels will fall dead on his 
audience. He may purchase one — possibly two, manu- 



Ella Whcclcr Wilcox 

scripts, — to oblige a friend, but it will end there ; and 
one or two manuscripts, so purchased, can never make 
name or fame for their author. 

■'It would be just as reasonable to talk about "in- 
fluence with a dry-goo('s merchant, and to expect to 
make him purchase undesired goods from a manu- 
facturer for friendship's sake, as to think an editor can 
be influenced by a friend at court. 

"Editors are employed by the owners of periodicals 
to select and publish material which will render the 
periodical a paying concern. The editor who does not 
do this may lose his position and his salary. 

"He is on the watch for attractive matter — and de- 
sires to find new material. He is delighted when he 
discovers a new poet or author. Being mortal, and 
having but one mind, he can judge of the poems and 
stories sent to him only from an individual standpoint. 

"He not infrequently lets genius slip through his 
hands, and accepts paste imitations. But he does it 
ignorantly, or carelessly, not willfully ; or he may have 
in his collection of accepted manuscripts something 
similar, which would prevent his use of a poem or 
sketch at that particular juncture. 

"The reasons why an editor declines a good manu- 
script are innumerable. It is impossible for him to 
explain them to each applicant for his favor. Nothing 
indicates the crudity of an author more than a request 
to criticize a manuscript and point out its defects ; for 
frequently the very first verse or the very first page 

280 



Poet and Essayist 

of a poem or romance decides its fate, and the editor 
returns it without reading further. Sometimes its 
length prevents any possibility of its being used in that 
])articular periodical, while it might be just what an- 
other magazine would desire." 

PlIRSEVEKAXCE COUNTS IN' .AUTHORSHIP. 

"The young writer who decides absolutely upon a 
literary career, and is confident of his mental equip- 
ment for his profession, should read all the current 
periodicals, magazines, and weeklies, American and 
English, and observe what style of literature they pub- 
lish. Then he should make a list of them, and send 
his poem or his narrative first to the magazine which 
he feels it is best suited for; if it returns, let him pro- 
ceed to speed it forth again, after giving it another 
reading ; and so on, until it has finished the circuit of, 
perhaps, fifty periodicals. This habit of perseverance 
will be worth something, even if he never sells that 
manuscript. 

"If he is still confident uf his powers, let hiin write 
in another vein, and proceed in the same manner. This 
persistency, backed by talent, must win in the long run. 

"If he feels he wants criticism, let him apply to some 
of the literary bureaus which make a business of criti- 
cism and revision. 

"\'ery few authors have time to give to this work. 
nor are they, as a rule, the best judges of the merit of 
another writer's productions. After all, the secret of 

281 



Ella Wheelt-r Wilcox 

a writer's success lies within him. If he is well 
equipped, he will win, hut not otherwise." 

WILL-POWER 

There is no chance, no destiny, no fate, 

Can circumvent, or hinder, or control 

The firm resolve of a determined soul. 

Gift counts for little; will alone is great; 

All things give way before it, soon or late. 

What obstacle can stay the mighty force 

Of the sea-seeking river in its course, 

Or cause the ascending orb of day to wait? 

Each well-born soul must win what it deserves, 

Let the fool prate of Luck ! The fortunate 

Is he whose earnest purpose never swerves, 

Whose slightest action or inaction serves 

The one great aim. 

Why, even death stands still 

And waits, an hour, sometimes, for such a will ! 



2«2 



XXVI 

A Printer's Boy, Self Taught, Be- 
comes the Dean of American 
Letters. 



I 



4 4 X SHOULD like, Mr. Howells," said I, by way 
of opening my interview with the famous 
noveHst, to learn your opinion concerning 
what constitutes success in life. You should 
have the American view?" 

"Not necessarily," said the novelist, seating himself. 

"Do you share the belief that everything is open to 
the beginner who has sufficient energy and persever- 
ance ?" 

"Add brains, and I will agree," said Mr. Howells 
with a smile. "A young man stands at the ' parting of 
two ways,' and can take his path this way or that. It 
is comparatively easy then, with good judgment. Youth 
is certainly the greatest advantage which life supplies." 

"You began to carve out your place in life under con- 
ditions very different from those of to-day ?" 

"Yes. I was born in a little southeastern Ohio vil- 
lage, — Martin's Ferry, — and, of course, T had but little 
of what people deem advantages in the way of schools, 

283 



William Dean Howells 

railroads, population, and so on. 1 am not sure, how- 
ever, that compensation was not had in other things." 

"Do you consider that you were specially talented in 
the direction of literary composition ?" 

"I should not say that. I think that I came of a read- 
ing race, which had always loved literature in a w^ay. 
My inclination was to read." 

"Would you say that, wdth a special leaning toward a 
special study, and good health, a fair start, and perse- 
verance, anyone can attain to distinction ?" 

EARLY IDEALS. 

'That is a probability, only. You may be sure that 
distinction will not come without those qualities. The 
only way to succeed, therefore, is to have them ; though 
having them will not necessarily guarantee distinction. 
T can only say that I began with a lofty ideal, without 
saying how closely I have held to it. My own youth 
was not specially marked by advantages. There were 
none, unless you can call a small bookcase full of books, 
which my home contained, an advantage. The printing 
office was my school from a very early date. My father 
thoroughly believed in it. and he had his belief as to 
work, which he illustrated as soon as we were old 
enough to learn the trade he followed. We could go to 
school and. study, or we could go into the printing office 
and work, with perhaps an equal chance of learning; 
but we could not be idle." 

"And you chose the printing office ?" 

284 



The Dean of Amtrican Letters 

"Not wholly. As I recall it, I went to and fro be- 
tween the schoolhouse and the printing office. When 1 
tired of one, I was promptly given my choice of the 
other." 

"Then you began life in poverty ?" 

"I suppose that, as the world goes now, we were poor. 
My father's income was never above twelve hundred a 
year, and his family was large ; but nobody was rich 
then. We lived in the simple fashion of that time and 
place." 

"You found time to read?" 

"My reading, somehow, went on pretty constantly. 
No doubt my love for it won me a chance to devote 
time to it." 

"Might I ask how much time you devoted each day 
to your literary object?" 

"The length varied with varying times. Sometimes 
I read but little. There were years of the work, of the 
over-work, indeed, — which falls to the lot of many, that 
I should be ashamed to speak of except in accounting 
for the fact. My father had sold his paper in Hamil- 
ton, and had bought an interest in another at Dayton, 
and at that time we were all straining our utmost to 
help pay for it." 

"And that left you little time ?" 

"In that period very few hours were given to litera- 
ture. My daily tasks began so early, and ended so late, 
that I had little time, even if T had the spirit for reading. 
Sometimes I had to sit up until midnight, waiting for 

285 



William Dean Howells 

telegraphic news, and be up again at dawn to deliver 
the papers, working afterward at the case; but that 
was only for a few years." 

"When did you find time to seriously apply yourself 
to Uterature?" 

ACQUIRING A LITERARY STYLE. 

"I think I did so before I really had the time. Liter- 
ary aspirations were stirred in nie by the great authors 
whom I successively discovered, and I was perpetually 
imitating the writings of these, — modeling some com- 
position of my own after theirs, but never willing to 
own it." 

"Do you attribute your style to the composite influ- 
ence of these various models ?" 

"No doubt they had their effect, as a whole, but indi- 
vidually I was freed from the last by each succeeding 
author, until at length I came to understand that I must 
be like myself, and no other." 

"Had you any conveniences for literary research, 
beyond the bookcase in your home ?" 

"If you mean a place to work, I had a narrow, little 
space, under the stairs at home. There was a desk 
pushed back against the wall, which the irregular ceil- 
ing sloped down to meet, behind it, and at my left was 
a window, which gave a good light on the writing leaf 
of my desk. This was my workshop for six or seven 
years, — and it was not at all a bad one. It seemed, for 
a while, so very simple and easy to come home in the 
middle of the afternoon, when my task at the printing 

286 



The Dean of" American Letters 

office was done, and sit down to my books in my little 
study, which I did not finally leave until the family 
were all in bed. My father had a decided bent in the 
direction of literature ; and, when I began to show a 
liking for literature, he was eager to direct my choice. 
This finally changed to merely recommending books, 
and eventually I was left to my own judgment, — a per- 
plexed and sorrowful mistaken judgment, at times." 

"In what manner did you manage to read the works 
of all your favorite authors ?" 

"Well, my hours in the printing office began at seven 
and ended at six, Vith an hour at noon for dinner, 
which I used for putting down such verses as had come 
to me in the morning. As soon as supper was over, I 
got out my manuscripts, and sawed, and filed, and ham- 
mered away at my blessed poems, which were little less 
than imitations, until nine, when I went regularly to 
bed, to rise again at five. Sometimes the foreman gave 
me an afternoon ofif on Saturday, which I devoted to 
literature." 

"Might I ask concerning your next advance in your 
chosen work?" 

"Certainly. As I recall it, my father had got one of 
those legislative clerkships, in 1858, which used to fall 
sometimes to deserving country editors, and together 
we managed and carried out a scheme for correspond- 
ing with some city papers. Going to Columbus, the 
state capital, we furnished a daily letter giving an 
account of the legislative proceedings, which T mainlv 

287 



William Dean Howells 

wrote from the material he helped me to gather. The 
letters found favor, and my father withdrew from the 
work wholly." 

"How long were you a correspondent?" 

HIS POEMS ALWAYS WERE REJECTED. 

"Two years. At the end of the first winter, a Cin- 
cinnati paper offered me the city editorship, but one 
night's round with the reporters at the police station 
satisfied me that I was not meant for that kind of work. 
I then returned home for the summer, and spent my 
time in reading, and in sending off poems, which regu- 
larly came back. I worked in my father's printing 
office, of course ; but, as soon as my task was done, 
went home to my books, and worked away at them 
until supper. Then a German bookbinder, with w^hom I 
was endeavoring to read Heine in the original, "met me 
in my father's editorial room, and with a couple of can- 
dles on the table between us, and our Heine and the dic- 
tionary before us, we read until we were both tired out." 

"Did you find it labor?" 

'T fanc\- that reading is not merely a pastime, when 
it is apparently the merest pastime. It fatigues .one 
after the manner of other work, and uses up a certain 
amount of mind-stuff ; and I have found that, if you are 
using up all the mind-stuff you have, much or little, in 
some other way, you do not read, because you have not 
the mind-stuff for it. You cannot say more of any 
other form of work." 

288 



The Dc:in ot Aineric iii Letters 

"Then it migln be said that you worked at separate 
and equally difficult tasks, constantlv ?" 

"Perhaps not equally difficult, but. certainly, con- 
stantly." 

■■Rather a severe schooling- to give one's self, don't 
\ou think it?" 

Mr. Howells smiled. ■'It was not without its imme- 
diate use. I learned how to choose between words, after 
a study of their fitness : and, though I often employed 
them decoratively. and with no vital sense of their 
(lualities, still, in mere decoration, they had to be chosen 
intelligently, and after some thought about their struc- 
ture and meaning. I would not imitate great writers 
without imitating their method, which was to the last 
degree intelligent. They knew what they were doing, 
and, although I did not always know what I was doing, 
they made me wish to know, and ashamed of not know- 
ing. The result was beneficial." 

"It is very evident that you recovered your health, in 
spite of your toil ?" 

HIS FIRST EDITORIAL POSITION. 

"Oh, yes. I got back health enough to be of use in 
the printing office at home, and was quietly at work 
there, when, to my astonishment. I was asked to come 
and take a place upon a Republican newspaper at the 
capital. I was given charge of the news department. 
This included the literary notices and the book reviews, 

289 



William Dean Howells 

and 1 am afraid that I at once gave my prime attention 
to these." 

"When did you begin to contribute to the Hterature 
of the day ?" 

"If you mean, when did I begin to attempt to con- 
tribute, I should need to fix an early date, for I early 
had experience with rejected manuscripts. One of my 
pieces, which fell so far short of my visions of the im- 
mense subjects I should handle as to treat of the lowly 
and familiar theme of spring, w^as the first thing I ever 
had in print. My father offered it to the editor of the 
paper I worked on in Columbus, where we were then 
living, and I first knew what he had done when, with 
mingled shame and pride, I saw it in the journal. In 
the tumult of my emotions, I promised myself that if 
ever I got through that experience safely, I would 
never suffer anything else of mine to be published ; but 
it was not long before I offered the editor a poem,, 
myself." 

"When did you publish your first story ?" 

"My next venture was a story in the Ik Marvel man- 
ner, which it was my misfortune to carry into print. I 
did not really write it, but composed it, rather, in type, 
at the case. It was not altogether imitated from Ik 
Marvel, for I drew upon the easier art of Dickens, at 
times, and helped myself out in places with bald paro- 
dies of "Bleak House." It was all very well at the be- 
ginning, but I had not reckoned with the future sufiici- 
cntly to start with any clear ending in my mind ; and, 

290 



The Dt-an of Anicrican Letters 

as I went on, I began to find myself more and more in 
doubt about it. My material gave out ; my incidents 
failed me; the characters wavered, and threatened to 
perish in my hands. To crown my misery, there grew 
up an impatience with the story among its readers ; and 
this found its way to me one day, when I overheard an 
old farmer, who came in for his paper, say that he ' did 
not think that story amounted to much.' I did not think 
so, either, but it was deadly to have it put into words ; 
and how I escaped the mortal effect of the stroke I do 
not know. Somehow, I managed to bring the wretched 
thing to a close, and to live it slowly down." 

AN EXPERIENCE IN COLLABORATION. 

"My next contribution to literature was jointly with 
John J. Piatt, the poet, who had worked with me as a 
boy in the printing office at Columbus. We met in 
Columbus, where I was then an editor, and we made 
our first literary venture together in a volume entitled, 
'Poems of Two Friends.' The volume became in- 
stantly and lastingly unknown to fame ; the west wait- 
ed, as it always does, to hear what the east should say. 
The cast said nothing, and two-thirds of the small 
edition of five hundred copies came back upon the pub- 
lisher's hands. This did not deter me, however, from 
contributing to the periodicals, which, from time to 
time, accepted my efforts." 

"Did you remain long, as an editor, in Columbus ?" 
"No; only until 1861, when I was appointed consul 

291 



William Dean Howells 

at Venice. I really wanted to go to Germany, that I 
might carry forward my studies in German literature ; 
and I first applied for the consulate at Munich. The 
powers at Washington thought it quite the same thing 
to offer me Rome, but I found that the income of the 
Roman consulate would not give me a living, and I 
was forced to decline it. Then the president's private 
secretaries, Mr, John Nicolay and Mr. John Hay, who 
did not know me, except as a young westerner who 
had written poems in the 'Atlantic Monthly,' asked me 
how I would like Venice, promising that the salary 
would be put up to $1,000 a year. It was really put up 
to $1,500, and I accepted. I had four years of nearly 
uninterrupted leisure at Venice." 

"Was it easier when you returned from Venice?" 

"Not at all. On my return to America my literary 
life took such form that most of my reading was done 
for review. I wrote at first a good many of the lighter 
criticisms in The Nation,' and then I went to Boston, 
to become assistant editor of 'The Atlantic Monthly,' 
where I wrote the literary notices for that periodical 
for four or five years." 

"You were eventually editor of the 'Atlantic,' were 
you not ?" 

"Yes, until 1881 ; and I have had some sort of close 
relation with magazines ever since." 

"Would you say that all literary success is very diffi- 
cult to achieve?" I ventured. 

"All that is enduring." 

292 



Tlic Di-.in of Aineriiuin Letters 

"It seems to me ours is an age when fame comes 
quickly." 

"Speaking of quickly made reputations," said Air. 
Howells, meditatively, did you ever hear of Alexander 
Smith? He was a poet who, in the fifties, was pro- 
claimed immortal by the critics, and ranked with 
Shakespeare. I myself read him w'ith an ecstacy which, 
when I look over his work to-day, seems ridiculous. 
His poem, 'Life-Drama,' was heralded as an epic, and 
set alongside of 'Paradise Lost.' I cannot tell how we 
all came out of this craze, but the reading world is very 
susceptible of such lunacies. He is not the only third- 
rate poet who has been thus apotheosized, before and 
since. You might have envied his great success, as I 
certainly did ; but it was not success, after all ; and I am 
sure that real success is always difificult to achieve." 

"Do you believe that success comes to those who 
have a special bent or taste, which they cultivate by 
hard work?" 

"I can only answer that out of my literary experi- 
ence. For my own part. I believe I have never got any 
good from a book that I did not read merely because I 
wanted to read it. I think this may be applied to any- 
thing a person does. The book, I know, which }ou read 
from a sense of duty, or because for any reason you 
must, is apt to yield you little. This. I think, is also 
true of everything, and the endeavor that does one 
good. — and lasting good. — is the endeavor one makes 
with pleasure. Labor done in another spirit will serve 



William Dean Howells 

in a way, but pleasurable labor brings, on the whole, I 
think, the greatest reward." 

THE REWARDS OF LITERATURE, 

"You were probably strongly fascinated by the sup- 
posed rewards of a literary career?" 

"Yes. A definite literary ambition grew up in me. 
and in the long reveries of the afternoon, when I was 
distributing my case in the printing office, I fashioned a 
future of overpowering magnificence and undying cele- 
brity. I should be ashamed to say what literary tri- 
umphs I achieved in those preposterous deliriums. But 
I realize now that such dreams are nerving, and sustain 
one in an otherwise barren struggle." 

"Were you ever tempted and willing to abandon your 
object of a literary life for something else?" 

''I was once. My first and only essay, aside from lit- 
erature, was in the realm of law. It was arranged with 
a United States senator that I should study law in his 
office. I tried it a month, but almost from the first day, 
I yearned to return to my books. I had not only to go 
back to literature, but to the printing office, and I gladh' 
chose to do it, — a step I never regretted." 

'Y^ou started out to attain personal distinction and 
happiness, did vou not?" 

"I did." 

WHAT TRUE HAPPINESS IS. 

"You have attained the first,— but T should like to 
^94 



The Dean of American Letters 

know if your view of what constitutes happiness is the 
same as when you began?" 

"It is quite different. I have come to see Hfe, not as 
the chase of a forever-impossible personal happiness, 
but as a field for endeavor toward the happiness of the 
whole human family. There is no other success. 

"I know, indeed, of nothing more subtly satisfying 
and cheering than a knowledge of the real good will 
and appreciation of others. Such happiness does not 
come with money, nor does it flow from a fine physical 
state. It cannot be bought. But it is the keenest joy, 
after all, and the toiler's truest and best reward." 



295 



XXVII 

A Famous Novelist Atones for Wast- 
ed School Days by Self-Culture. 

IX his study, a curiously-shaped building without 
the accompaniment of a window, and combining- 
in equal proportions the Byzantine, Romanesque 
and Doric styles of architecture, the gray-haired 
author of "Ben Hur," surrounded by his pictures, 
books and military trophies, is spending, in serene and 
comfortable retirement, the evening of his life. As I 
sat beside him and listened to the recital of his earliest 
struggles and later achievements, I could not help con- 
trasting his dignified bearing, careful expression, and 
gentle demeanor, with another occasion in his life, 
when, a vigorous, black-haired young military officer, 
in the spring of 1861, he appeared, with flashing eye 
and uplifted sword, at the head of his regiment, the 
gallant and historic Eleventh Indiana Volunteers. 

General Wallace never repels a visitor, and his greet- 
ing is cordial and ingenuous. 

"If I could say anything to stimulate or encourage 
the young men of today," he said, when I had ex- 
plained the object of my visit, "I would gladly do so. 
but I fear that the story of my early days would be of 
very little interest or value to others. So far as school 

296 



Author of " Ben-Hur " 

education is concerned, it may be truthfully said that 1 
had but little, if any : and if, in spite of that deficiency, 
I ever arrived at proficiency. I reached it. T presume, as 
Topsy attained her stature. — 'just t^rowed into it.' " 

HE WAS A CARELESS STUDENT. 

"Were vou denied earlv school advantap^es ?" T 
asked. 

"Not in the least. On the contrary, I had most 
abundant opportunity in that respect. My father was 
a lawyer, enjoying a lucrative practice in Brookville, 
Indiana, — a small town which bears the distinction of 
having given to the world more i:)rominent men than 
any other place in the Hoosier state. Not long after 
my birth, he was elected lieutenant-governor, and. 
finally, governor of the state. He, himself, was an 
educated man, having been graduated from the United 
States Military Academy at West Point, and having 
served as instructor in mathematics there. He was not 
only an educated man, but a man of advanced ideas 
generally, as shown by the fact that he failed of a re- 
election to congress in 1840, because, as a member of 
the committee on commerce, he gave the casting vote 
in favor of an appropriation to develop Morse's mag- 
netic telegraph. Of course, he believed in the value, 
and tried to impress upon me the necessity of a 
thorough school training; but, in the face of all the 
solicitude and encourageinent which an indulgent 
father could waste on an unappreciative son. I re- 

^97 



General Lew Wallace 

mained vexatiously indifferent. I presume I was like 
some man in history, — it was Lincoln, I believe, — who 
said that his father taught him to work, but he never 
quite succeeded in teaching him to love it. 

"My father sent me to school, and regularly paid 
tuition, — for in those days there were no free schools ; 
but, much to my discredit, he failed to secure anything 
like regular attendance at recitations, or even a decent 
attempt to master my lessons at any time. In fact, 
much of the time that should have been given to school 
was spent in fishing, hunting and roaming through the 
woods." 

HE LOVED TO READ. 

"But were you thus indifferent to all forms of edu- 
cation ?" 

"No, my case was not quite so hopeless as that. I 
did not desert the schools entirely, but my attendance 
was so provokingly irregular and my indifference so 
supreme, I wonder now that I was tolerated at all. But 
T had one mainstay; I loved to read. I was a most 
inordinate reader. In some lines of literature, es- 
pecially history and some kinds of fiction, my appetite 
was insatiate, and many a day, while my companions 
were clustered together in the old red brick school- 
house, struggling with their problems in fractions or 
percentage, I was carefully hidden in the woods near 
by, lying upon my elbows, munching an apple, and 
reveling in the beauties of Plutarch, Byron or Gold- 
smith. 

298 



Author of " Ben-Hur" 

"Did you not attend college, or the higher grade of 
schools?" 

"Yes, for a brief period. My brother was a student 
in Wabash College, — here in Crawfordsville, — and 
hither I also was sent ; but within six weeks I had tired 
of the routine, was satiated with discipline, and made 
my exit from the institution. I shall never forget what 
my father did when I returned home. He called me 
into his office, and, reaching into one of the pigeon- 
holes above his desk, withdrew therefrom a package 
of papers neatly folded and tied with the conventional 
red tape. He was a very systematic man, due, perhaps, 
to his West Point training, and these papers proved to 
be the receipts for my tuition, which he had carefully 
preserved. He called oflf the items, and asked me to 
add them together. The total. T confess, staggered 
me." 

A father's fruitful warning. 

" That sum, my son,' he said, with a tone of regret 
in his voice, 'represents what I have expended in these 
many years past to provide you with a good education. 
How successful I have been, you know better than any- 
one else. After mature reflection, T have come to the 
conclusion that I have done for you in that direction 
all that can reasonably be expected of any parent, and 
T have, therefore, called you in to tell you that you have 
now reached an age when yon must take up the lines 
yourself. Tf you have failed to profit by the advan- 

299 



General Lew Wallace 

tages with which I have tried so hard to surround you. 
the responsibility must be yours. I shall not upbraid 
you for your neglect, but rather pity you for the indif- 
ference which you have shown to the golden oppor- 
tunities you have, through my indulgence, been enabled 
to enjoy.' " 

"What effect did this admonition have on vou ? Did 
it awaken or arouse you?" 

"Tt aroused me, most assuredly. It set me to think- 
ing as nothing before had done. The next day, I set 
out with a determination to accomplish something for 
myself. My father's injunction rang in my ears. New 
responsibilities rested on my shoulders, as I was, for 
the first time in my life, my own master. I felt that 
r must get wf)rk on my own account. After much 
effort, I finally obtained employment from the man 
with whom I had passed so many afternoons strolling 
up and down the little streams in the neighborhood, 
trying to fish. He was the county clerk, and he hired 
me to copy what was known as the complete record 
of one of the courts. I worked for months in a dingy, 
half-lighted room, receiving for my pay something like 
ten cents per hundred words.. The tediousness and 
regularity of the work was a splendid drill for me, and 
taught me the virtue of persistence as one of the ave- 
nues of success. It was at this time I began to realize 
the deficiency in my education, especially as I had an 
ambition to become a lawyer. Being deficient in both 
mathematics and grammar, I was forced to study those 

300 



Author ot" '• Ben-Hur " 

branches evenings. ( )f course, the latter was a very 
exacting study, after a full day's hard work, but I was 
made to realize that the time T had spent with such 
lavish prodigality could not be recovered, and that I 
must extract every possible good out of the golden 
moments then flying by all too fast." 

HIS FIRST LITER.\RV EFFORT. 

y 

"Had you a distinct literary ambition at that time?" 

"Well, I had always had a sort of literary bent or 
inclination. I read all the literature of the day, be- 
sides the standard authors, and finally began to devote 
ni}- odd moments to a book of my own, — a tale based 
on the days of the crusades. When completed it cov- 
ered about three hundred and fifty pages, and bore the 
rather high-sounding title, 'The Man-at-Arms.' I read 
a good portion of it before a literary society to which 
I belonged ; the members applauded it, and I was fre- 
ciuently urged to have it published. The Mexican War 
soon followed, however, and I took the manuscript 
with me when I enlisted : but ])efore the close of my 
service it was lost, and my production, therefore, never 
reached the public eye." 

"But did not the approval which the book received 
from the few persons wdio read it encourage you to 
continue writing?'" 

"Fully fifty years have elapsed since then, and it is. 
therefore, rather difficult, at this late day, to recall just 
how such things affected me. I suppose I was en- 



General Lew Wallace 

couraged thereby, for, in due course of time, another 
book which turned out to be 'The Fair God,' — my first 
book to reach the public, — began to shape itself in m_\ 
mind. The composition of this work was not, as the 
theatrical people would say, a continuous performance, 
for there were many and singular interruptions, and it 
would be safe to say that months, and, in one case, 
years, intervened between certain chapters. A few 
years after the war, I finished the composition, strung 
the chapters into a continuous narrative, leveled up the 
uneven places, and started East with the manuscript. 
A letter from Whitelaw Reid, then editor of the New 
York 'Tribune,' introduced me to the head of one of 
the leading publishing houses in Boston, There I was 
kindly received, and, delivered my manuscript, which 
was referred to a professional reader, to determine its 
literary, and also, I presume, its commercial value. 

"It would be neither a new nor an interesting story 
to acquaint the public with the degree of anxious sus- 
pense that pervaded my mind when I withdrew to 
await the reader's judgment. Every other writer has, 
I assume, at one time or another, undergone much the 
same experience. It was not long until I learned from 
the publisher that the reader reported in favor of my 
production. Publication soon followed, and for the 
first time, in a literary sense. I found myself before the 
public, and my book before the critics. 

"How long after this did 'Ben Hur" appear, and 
\\hat led vou to write it ?" 



Author of " Ben-Hur "' 

THE ORIGIN OF "BEN II UR/' 

"I began 'Ben llur' about 18T(i, and it was pul)lished 
in 1880. The purpose, at first, was a short serial for 
one of the magazines, descriptive of the visit of the 
wise men to Jerusalem as mentioned in the first two 
verses of the second chapter of Matthew. It will be 
recognized in 'Book First' of the work as now pub- 
lished. For certain reasons, however, the serial idea 
was abandoned, and the narrative, instead of ending 
with the birth of the Savior, expanded into a more pre- 
tentious novel and only ended with the death scene on 
Calvary. The last ten chapters were written in the 
old adobe palace at Sante Fe, New Mexico, where 1 
was serving as governor. It is difficult to answer the 
question, 'what led me to write the book?' or why I 
chose a piece of fiction which used Christ as its leading 
cbaracter. In explanation, it is proper to state that I 
had reached an age in life when men usually begin to 
study themselves with reference to their fellowmen, and 
reflect on the good they may have done in the w'orld. 
Up to that time, never having read the Bible, I knew 
nothing about sacred history : and in matters of a re- 
ligious nature, although I w^as not in every respect an 
infidel. T was persistently and notoriously indififerent. 
I did not know. and. therefore, did not care. I resolved 
to begin the study of the good book in earnest. 

COXVERTED WHIl.E WRTHNT. IMS OWN BOOK. 

"I was in quesl of know UMlgc. but I had no faith to 



General Lew Wallace 

sustain, no creed to bolster up. The result was that the 
whole field of religious and biblical history opened up 
before me, and, my vision not being clouded by prev- 
iously formed opinions, I \\as enabled to survey it 
without the aid of lenses. I believe I was thorough 
and persistent. I know I was conscientious in my 
search for the truth. I weighed, I analyzed, I counted 
and compared. The evolution from conjecture into 
knowledge, through opinion and belief, was gradual 
but irresistible ; and at length I stood firmly and defi - 
antly on the solid rock. Upward of seven hundred 
thousand copies of 'Ben Hur' have been published, and 
it has been translated into all languages from French to 
Arabic ; but, whether it has ever influenced the mind of 
a single reader or not. I am sure its conception and pre- 
paration, if it has done nothing more, has convinced its 
author of the divinity of the lowly Nazarene who 
\valked and talked with God. 



304 



XXVIII 

A Social Leader, Having '^Eyes That 
See," Earns Literary Laurels. 

MRS. BURTON HARRISON, the gifted Am- 
erican authoress, is a charming woman so- 
cially. She is unaffected in manner, and easy 
and graceful in conversation. When I called, 
1 was ushered into her library and study, and was enter- 
tained in the same delightful way in which her books 
are written. Indeed, she told me that she writes with- 
out effort, and endeavors to do so naturally. 

It was a pretty story she told me of her childhood 
days in Old Virginia, where she spent the greater part 
of her time in reading standard works, and in dream- 
ing of an almost unformed ambition. "Even in m}- 
youngest years," she said. "I used to make up fairy 
tales. Later. I put my thoughts on paper." 

"And what was your first experience in a literary 
way?" I asked. 

"When I was about seventeen years old. 1 sent a 
love story to the 'Atlantic Monthly.' It was lurid and 
melancholy," she said, with a smile. "It was returned 
in due course of time, and across its face was written, 
in very bright ink. 'This is far bettor than the average. 
and ought to be road through.' from which I inforrod 



Mrs. Burton Harrison 

that only the first page had been read. But I was en- 
couraged even by that." 

HER FIRST NOVEL. 

"My next attempt was a novel, which I called 'Skir- 
mishing.' It was destroyed in a fire, for which I have 
ever since felt grateful." 

Miss Constance Cary (her maiden name), next went 
abroad with her widowed mother, and spent some years 
in traveling and in completing her education. 

"It was not until after I returned to America," she 
said, "and was married to Mr. Harrison, that I was 
again bold enough to take up my pen. I wrote a little 
article, which I called 'A Little Centennial Lady.' It 
was published in 'Scribner's Alagazine,' and had so 
favorable a reception that I. was encouraged to write 
'Golden Rod,' a story of Mount Desert, which appeared 
later in 'Harper's Magazine.' " 

BOOKS SHE ENJOYED. 

"^ly books that I have enjoyed most, if a writer may 
enjoy her own work, have not been those dealing with 
New York social life, but my tales of the south. 
Charles A. Dana, of the New York 'Sun,' was uncon- 
sciously responsible for my 'Old Dominion.' He gave 
me the agreeable task of editing the 'Monticello Let- 
ters,' and from them I gleaned a story which outlined 
my 'Old Dominion.' But the editors cry for stories of 
New York social life, to gratify the popular demand." 

306 



Novelist ot" High Lite 

Mrs. Harrison's books arc so well known that it is 
unnecessary to dwell on their acknowledged merit, 
vividness, and truthfulness to life. To tiie general 
public, there is something fascinating about a Xew 
York social story, dealing wath the millionaire's club 
life, woman's teas, and love's broken lances. Besides 
the general desire for a good social novel, there is a 
morbid, unsatiated desire to pry into the doings, cus- 
toms and manners of the rich. It is w^ith agreeable 
expectations that one picks up one of Mrs. Harrison's 
books; it is almost with the knowledge that you will 
be entertained. 

HER CHARACTERS ARE FROM LIFE. 

On a former call, she told me that her Xew York 
stories are built on her observations, and that the char- 
acters are so changed as not to antagonize her friends, 
for she enters the best society through her family ties 
and her well-earned prestige. 

"It is very peculiar," she continued, ''how. in writing 
a storv, the characters govern me, not I the characters. 
I may have the outline and ending of a book in my 
mind, but the characters take everything into their 
hands, and walk independently through the pages. I 
have always found it best to obey. The ending of 
'Anglomaniacs.' which caused so much adverse criti- 
cism, was not as T had planned. I was helpless under 
the caprices of the characters. .At first. T was dis- 



Mrs. Burton Harrison 

pleased at the ending ; but now, looking back upon it, 
I am well satisfied." 

"Then the characters to you become real, and you 
are entirely under their spell, merely chronicling what 
to you appears real?" 

IN LOV^E WITH HER WORK. 

"Yes, if I did not believe in them, I would be unable 
to write ; for the time being, I am living and observing 
a dozen lives. There is much satisfaction in doing so 
correctly. I am in love with my work, and am a hard 
worker." 

For the past few months, Mrs. Harrison has been 
idle, by the advice of her physicians, and has spent 
the season abroad, traveling over the continent. 

"But all the time, I am turning little romances over 
in my mind, and when T can no longer keep my pen 
from paper, I suppose I shall sit down and write," she 
said. "Last winter, I was under a pretty heavy strain, 
and my overworked condition compelled me to rest for 
awhile." 

Many annising little instances touching upon her 
work have come to her attention. 

"One morning," said Mrs. Harrison, "after my hus- 
band had successfully defended a client, the man 
grasped his hand very warmly, and, to my husband's 
amazement, said. 'Well. Mr. Harrison. T want to tell 
you what we think of your wife. She's the finest 

308 



Novelist of High Lite 

writer in the English language, that's what my daugh- 
ter says. She says there are no books like hers.' 

" 'Which one does she like most ?' asked my hus- 
band, immensely pleased. 

" 'Well,' he replied, 'I can't just answer that, but T 
tliink it's 'Your Eyre.' 

"Once I received a rather startling letter from a 
western ranchman. It said, 'Your book has been going 
the rounds, but it always comes back, and I have 
threatened to put a bullet in the hide of the man who 
does not return it.' T was greatly pleased wnth that 
letter. 

"The most gratifying letter I ever received was from 
a man in a prison. He begged to be supplied with all I 
had written. 

"Perhaps he was a man who had been in society, and 
there is a little story connected with his imprisonment." 

SHE IS A GENTLE, FORCEFUL WOMAN. 

Airs. Harrison has made many close friends through 
her books. Once she was with a party of friends in a 
Madrid gallery. Her name was mentioned, and a 
Spanish lady came forward, and introduced herself, at 
the same time expressing her admiration for her. 

"She is now one of my dearest friends," concluded 
Mrs. Harrison." 

Just then, a colored man appeared in her library. 
Ix^aring a tray, — for afternoon tea, — so I arose, al- 
though she asked me to have a cup of tea, fearing that 



Mrs. Burton Harrison 

I might be intruding, and expressed my wish that she 
would soon be at her desk again. 

"I suppose I shall," she said, "for it is irksome being 
idle." 

Such is Mrs. Harrison's disposition. Indeed, it is 
hard to imagine her idle. Orders are pouring in upon 
her, which througli her present weak health, she is 
forced to decline. 

But what is my impression about her? She is a 
gentle, forceful woman, whose energy and painstaking 
have placed her in the front rank of American writers. 
Without the latter attributes, her talent would have 
fallen to the ground. 



310 



XXIX 

Painstaking, the Secret of a Cele- 
brated Painter's Success. 

UNDOUBTEDLY the best-known American art- 
ist is Edwin Austin Abbey. He has done 
more than any other man to spread the fame 
of American art in Europe. He has pro- 
ceeded, step by step, from his early youth, when he 
earned fifteen dollars a week as a "hack-artist," until 
he ranks as the greatest living decorative painter. The 
history of his life is an inspiration to students, as it 
furnishes striking evidence of what hard work and self- 
confidence can accomplish in the field of art. Mr. Abbey 
advanced gradually from water-colors and pen-sketch- 
ing to oil-painting, pastel and fine decorative work. 
Although he is a very prolific artist, he has maintained 
a surprising degree of excellence. His work breathes 
forth his personality, and shows the character of the 
man ; there is confidence in every line. His taste is as 
fine, as his art and execution are perfect, and he has an 
extraordinary degree of comprehension and receptivity, 
due to his American blood. 

Mr. Abbey has scholarly ability and intense applica- 
tion, but they would have availed him little if they had 



Edwin Austia Abbey 

not seconded a talent of the most unusual order, and 
an individuality which is so personal that it may be said 
of him that he resembles no other living painter. It is 
only natural that he should have gained success in his 
chosen line of work, for his heart has been in it from 
his boyhood days. His earnest efforts have always 
been appreciated both in Europe and America. Only 
two seasons after he went to live in England, he was 
elected a member of the Royal Institute of Painters in 
Water Colors. In 1889, he received a first-class medal 
at the Paris Exposition, and, in IHOli, he was honored 
by an associate membership in the Royal Academy. 
Two years later he was received into full membership, 
though John R. Sargent, his fellow-countryman, had to 
wait three years. Mr. Abbey was honored by King Ed- 
ward VII with a commission to paint the coronation 
scene in Westminster Abbey, and by the Pennsylvania 
legislature with a commission to decorate the new 
state capitol at Harrisburg. 

A MOST INTERESTING STUDIO. 

During a recent trip to England. I determ.ined to 
visit Mr. Abbey, and obtain from him some message 
for his young countrymen who are beginning where he 
began thirty years ago. He has a beautiful country 
house known as Morgan Hall, in Gloucestershire, an 
attractive English county. In this house is the largest 
private studio in the whole country, built especially for 
the preparation of the Boston Library decorations. 



Illustrator and Decorator 

which Mr. Abbey recently completed. It measures 
twenty-five by fourteen yards, and has a high ceiling. 
In this room I observed a number of great easels, for 
Mr. Abbey usually has several pictures in progress at 
one time, but they occupied only a fraction of the space. 
It would be hard to imagine a studio more perfectly 
equipped for work. Great tapestries hung from heavy 
frames, not for ornamentation, but for study : carved 
oak doors and panels were resting against the walls, 
and scattered everywhere were casts of curious archi- 
tecture. Priceless armor was displayed on every side, 
and along the walls were a number of canvases which 
had been used for studies, or paintings which had not 
been completed. There were chests filled with velvets, 
brocades and silks of various ancient periods. All these 
things are accessories of Mr. Abbey's craft and nothing 
more. He uses them in working out the details of his 
historical paintings. There were trestles full of elabor- 
ate studies and half-finished drawings standing about, 
and, tacked upon the walls were photographs of pic- 
tures of many interesting periods. 

Mr. Abbey has also a vast collection of costumes. 
They are of all periods, and one might suppose himself 
in the stock room of some great theater. All these cos- 
tumes help in depicting the dress worn at some great 
event which the artist desires to put upon canvas. Mr. 
Abbey is very accurate and careful in his work, and has 
never been challenged in any details of fact, of costume, 
of architecture, or of accessory. It must not be sup- 

3^3 



Edwin Austin Abbey- 
posed that any of these costumes and decorations are 
copied in the paintings ; they are merely suggestions for 
invention. 

Mr. Abbey's industry and energy are prodigious, so 
that I was quite prepared to find him at work when T 
visited his studio. Ahhough the artist has Hved abroad 
for many years, he is thoroughly American in his per- 
sonality, and I might have been talking with him at a 
Philadelphia studio, instead of in the heart of England. 

HE WAS NOT A PRECOCIOUS BOY. 

"There was nothing at all extraordinary about my 
boyhood," he said, in answer to a question. "I was 
very much like other boys, perhaps less promising than 
most. I remember that my parents complained be- 
cause I was unable to fix my ambition upon any single 
profession, and they urged that I must have some defi- 
nite aim in life. When I appeared unable to decide for 
m\self, they undertook to decide for me and to formu- 
late plans for my future. They suggested that I enter 
the ministry, but I had an instinct which told me that 
I was fitted for no such career. I told them then that 
art ofifered a greater attraction, and they were willing 
that I should begin studying. I entered the Academy 
of Fine Arts in Philadelphia, and was delighted with 
my undertaking from the very beginning. 

"Of course I was interested in all that pertained to 
art, and especially in drawing in black and white. I 
read all publications which printed work of this sort, 

3H 



Illustrator and Decorator 

and especially 'Punch' and 'The Graphic," so that they 
had no inconsiderable share in my instruction in the 
use of a pencil. I used to observe the styles of the dif- 
'< rent artists and study the best in each. 

"In 1871, my father suggested that it was time to 
decide whether or not I was to earn my livelihood as 
an artist, and I decided that it should be my life-work. 
I was fortunate in obtaining employment in the art 
department of Harper and Brothers, in New York City. 
I was only nineteen years old at the time, and was filled 
with enthusiasm over my work. I was anxious to learn 
as much as possible, and Harper's was an excellent 
place for me. I was given a great variety of work, and 
received every encouragement for earnest effort. Every 
improvement in my drawings was appreciated. Several 
boys who W'Orked with me at that time have since be- 
come famous in the art world, notably Reinhart and 
Alexander. Even the boys who swept out the office 
were gaining an excellent start, for one of them has 
since become one of the most famous Franco-American 
painters, practicing in Paris." 

HIS WORK WAS ENCOURAGED. 

"!My first published drawing represented the demoli- 
tion of the Vendome Column in Paris by the Preach 
Coninume, and I shall never forget my pleasure at see- 
ing it in 'Harper's Weekly.' It doesn't matter how old 
we get, we're sure to remember our first appearance. 



Edwin Austin Abbey 

I received many congratulations for my effort and con- 
tinued my work with enthusiasm. 

"The young artists in Harper's offices were given 
all sorts of subjects to do, pictorial, illustrative and 
reportorial, and this variety has been of the utmost 
value to me. There was one sort of work, however, 
that I preferred above all others. When only a lad I 
fell in love with the classic literature of England ; Gold- 
smith was always one of my favorite authors, and 
whenever I had spare time I devoted it to illustrating 
some of the stories that I had read. I was especially 
fond of English history, so you can imagine my de- 
light when it was decided that I was to illustrate the 
works of Herrick for 'Harper's Monthly.' with a view 
to ultimate publication in book form. 

'Tt was then that I first came to England. I thought 
it advisable to live for a time in the English country, 
and I settled for two years in one of the most pictur- 
esque districts of Worcestershire. I need not tell you 
that I enjoyed that visit, and, when I returned to Amer- 
ica, in 1880, it was only to remain eight months and to 
arrange my aflfairs so that I could return here. Al- 
though I had lost none of my regard for the land of my 
birth, I felt that, if I was to draw pictures from Eng- 
lish history, England was the place for me to live in, so 
here I have been ever since, save for occasional jour- 
neys to America and the Continent." 

Mr. Abbey breathed a sigh of relief as he finished the 
narrative of his early days. "But this doesn't bring you 

316 



Illustrator and Decurator 

up to date," I said, "and the most interesting story is 
about what you've done since." But the artist shook 
his head. "It's simply a record of steady work," he 
said; "you already know about the chief paintings I 
have done in late years." 

"Of course," I said, "you are doing nothing now but 
painting in oils ?" 

"That's all," replied Mr. Abbey, "and my contracts 
will prevent me from doing any other kind of work in 
the near future. I didn't begin painting in oils until I 
had been working many years ; the 'Mayday Morn,' 
my first exhibit, was not shown until 1890. It seems 
quite the usual thing for artists to take up oils aftcr 
they are known chiefly by black and white or water 
colors." 

HE ALWAYS TAKES PAINS. 

"It is well known that you spend much time in pre- 
paring the subjects of your paintings," I said, "but 
there aren't many artists who worry about the technical 
details as you do." 

"I won't say that 1 worry about them," replied Mr. 
Abbey. "An artist should study for his profession just 
as a man should prepare for the law or medicine, and 
should never consider that natural ability is all that he 
requires for success. He should have a knowledge of 
architecture and sculpture as well as of the principles 
of drawing : in short, he should carefully learn what 
may be called "the grammar of his ])rofession.' 



Edwin Austin Abbey 

"When I am to paint a subject which is mythologi- 
cal, I am at pains to absorb the atmosphere of the 
period, and to learn something of the geography in 
which the legendary figures moved. I visit the scene 
of the story, obtain every picture which will give me a 
knowledge of the dress of the period, and I am not 
satisfied until I have exhausted every possible source 
of information. It is well known that Sir Frederick 
Leighton constantly refreshed his mind and memory 
by visiting the classic scenes of his paintings. 

"Some artists have been known to go so far as to 
paint a scene as an artist living in the period of the 
story would have painted it. I regard this as rather 
extreme. It is well to have the details perfect, but 
modern art has some advantage of technique and color 
which are not to be despised. I would not have you 
believe that technical efficiency is the greatest essential 
in an artist's qualifications, only it is a valuable asset 
when added to natural ability and earnestness of pur- 
pose." 

PERSISTENCE AND HARD WORK COUNT. 

Mr. Abbey has invariably practiced wdiat he advises 
other artists to do. Before beginning the decorative 
paintings for the delivery room of the Boston Library, 
he spent many months traveling in Italy, collecting 
information which might aid him in the paintings of 
the Holy Grail. But in the end he decided that the 
scene should not be in Italy at all. and his efifort went 

3>8 



Illustrator and Decorator 

for nothing, as far as that particular series was con- 
cerned. He spent four years of unsurpassable toil, 
study and application in completing the first five of the 
pictures, and when they were done the public was not 
slow to appreciate the effort he had evidently put forth. 
Mr. Abbey could not have chosen a subject more wor- 
thy of his talent. He has confidence in his ideas of 
what is best in art, is full of mediaeval feeling, and is 
endowed, — in spite of his sunny, hopeful temperament, 
— with an appreciation of the tragedy underlying so 
much of human life. In historical pictures, he con- 
siders no toil too great to make sure of accuracy, and 
his university training has been of the greatest assist- 
ance to him in his work. 

"No artist can be too well educated," he said, during 
my conversation with him ; "every bit of information is 
sure to be of use to him sooner or later, in one painting 
or another. 

"I am glad," he said, "if I can encourage anyone to 
hard work, for surely that is the chief aid to success in 
any career. The young person who believes that an 
artist's life is a bed of roses, and that he needs only to 
ply the brush a few hours each day, is mistaken. He 
must be scholarly by nature, must have a wide and 
minute acquaintance with art, and must never consider 
that he has learned it all if he hopes for lasting fame. I 
might add that he must also have earnest convictions 
regarding his work, and the courage to carry them out. 
Given these qualifications, combined with talent, of 



Edwin Austin Abbey 

course, any person should succeed as well in the field 
of art as in any other profession, providing he is will- 
ing to give a reasonable time to study and preparation. 
Although the world may call him master, the true artist 
will never regard himself as other than a student." 



320 




fOYS of HOME 



XXX 

A School Girl, Not Afraid of Drudg- 
ery, Becomes America's Fore- 
most Woman Illustrator. 

IN the heart of Philadelphia's great business quar- 
ter, on lower Chestnut street, there stands a five- 
story, red brick building which is about as re- 
served looking as Philadelphia business struc- 
tures can be, and before which, in the street below, the 
tide of traffic rumbles and clatters and clangs from 
early morning until night. It doesn't look much like a 
place where a person could be free enough from noise 
and other distractions to exercise a fine artistic taste. 

Yet it was here, I was informed, that Alice Barber 
Stephens had her studio, and to this I was bound. 
Mrs. Stephens takes rank with A. B. Frost, Howard 
Pyle, A. B. Wenzell, C. D. Gibson and others, and 
there are those who put her before several of these. 
I remember looking over a book of her drawings, 
published by some New York house, entitled "The 
American Woman in the Home," and admiring ex- 
ceedingly the gentle, refined appearance of the mothers, 
the excellent sedateness and sympathetic beauty of the 



Alice Barber Stephens 

young married daughters, and the quiet modesty of the 
girls in these pictures. 

You would say, looking at these drawings, "Here is 
a plain, commonplace, genuine person, who illustrates." 
She has swept, sewed, performed the duty that lay 
nearest. You can see it in the sketches. She paints 
because she likes to, and as well as she can. She has 
no thought of immortality, nor imagines that she will 
be hailed as a marvel, but simply believes it is well and 
interesting to do good work. 

Considering these things, I made my way one after- 
noon up several flights of stairs, — artists must have the 
sky-light, you know, — to a door labeled A. B. Stephens, 
which was opened by a tall, slender, reserved-looking 
woman, who smiled as she admitted that she was AUce 
Barber Stephens. After a sentence or two of explana- 
tion, an invitation was extended to enter. 

ART IGNORES NOISE. 

It was as if one had dropped a stage curtain upon the 
rattling, excited scene without. Comfortable chairs 
were scattered about. Screens and tall bric-a-brac 
cases of oriental workmanship divided spaces and filled 
corners. A great square of sunshine fell from a sky- 
light, and in one corner a Dutch clock slowly ticked. 
The color of the walls was a dull brick red, and against 
them stood light brown shelves, holding white and blue 
china vases, jugs and old plates. Sketches in ink, wash 
and color were here and there on the wall, and in one 



Illustrator and Art Teacher 

place a large canvas showing Market street. Philadel- 
phia, near City Hall, on a rain\' day, gave a sombre yet 
rather pleasing touch. 

Mrs. Stephens had returned to her easel, on which 
was a large sketch in black and white, showing a young 
rake, with his body bent forward, his elbows resting on 
his knees, his face buried in his hands,— the picture of 
despair. Some picture for a novel it was, the title of 
which might easily have been "The Fool and His 
Money." 

''You won't mind my working," said Mrs. Stephens, 
and I hastened to explain that I wouldn't, and didn't. 

She put touches here and there on the picture, as we 
talked of women in art, and the conversation did not 
seem to distract her attention from the work in hand, 
which advanced rapidly. 

girls' chances as illustrators. 

"Don't you believe it is easier, to-day, for a young 
girl to succeed in illustrating than it is for a young 
man?" 

"Well, possibly," she answered. "Neither girl nor 
boy can succeed without aptitude and the hardest kind 
of work, but girls are rather novel in the field, and 
their work may receive slightly more gentle considera- 
tion to begin with. It would not be accepted, how- 
ever, without merit." 

"Hasn't the smaller remuneration which women ac- 



Alice Barber Stephens 

ccpt something to do witli tlie popularity of the woman 
illustrator?" 

"Very little, if any," she answered. "1 find that 
women are about as quick, perhaps more so, than men, 
to demand good prices for clever work, although they 
have less of the egotism of men artists." 

"You judge from your own case," I suggested. 

"Not at all. I never possessed cleverness. It was 
need and determination with me, and I can honestly 
say that all I have gained has been by the most earnest 
application. I never could do anything with a dash. 
It was always slow, painstaking efifort ; and it is yet." 

"Do you ever exhibit?" I asked. 

"No," said Mrs. Stephens, "not any more. There 
was a time when I had an ambition to shine as a 
painter, and as long as I had that ambition I neither 
shone as a painter nor made more than a living as an 
illustrator. I made up my mind, however, that I was 
not to be a great woman painter, and I decided to apply 
myself closely to the stronger, illustrative tendency 
which fascinated me. From that time on my success 
dates, and I am rather proud now that I was able to 
recognize my limitations." 

"Did you find that in marrying you made your work 
more difficult to pursue ?" I ventured, for her interest- 
ing home life is a notable feature of her career. 

"I cannot say that I did. There is more to do. but 
there is also a greater desire to do it. I love my boy, 
and I take time to make his home life interesting and 



Illustrator and Art Teacher 

satisfying-. When be was ill, I removed my easel from 
the studio to a room adjoining the sick-chamber at the 
house, and worked there." 

now SHE BEGAN. 

Her instinct for art seems to have been a gift direct. 
As a very little girl her facility with the pencil de- 
lighted her teachers, and after the regular exercises of 
the day she was allowed to occupy her time drawing 
whatever fancy or surroundings might suggest. At 
seven years of age her parents removed to Philadel- 
phia, and there the young artist encountered school 
regulations which rather debarred her from following 
her beloved pastime. But her talent was so pronounced 
that one day in every week was allowed her in which 
to attend the School of Design— an arrangement that 
continued until she entered the grammar school. 

A few years later she became a regular student at 
this School of Design, where she took a course of wood 
engraving, but did not relax her study of drawing. As 
an engraver she became so successful that her work 
soon became remunerative, and gave her means to 
uiter the Pennsylvania Academy of Fine Arts. At the 
same time her progress as an engraver was so marked 
that her efforts were brought to the attention of the art 
editor of "Scribner's Magazine," for whom, to illus- 
trate an article on the academy, she engraved the 
"Woman's Life Class," from her own drawing. Soon 
her drawings gave her a reputation, and she abandoned 



Alice Barber Stephens 

engraving. Her first published drawings were for 
school-book illustrations, from which her field widened 
and her work came into great demand. 

In 1887 she w'as married and spent ten months 
abroad, st'ud3'ing for a part of the time in Paris in the 
school of Julien and of Carlo Rossi, devoting the re- 
mainder of her stay in travel. Upon her return she 
was prevailed upon to become an instructor in the 
Philadelphia School of Design, where she introduced 
life-class study, which has met with marked success. 



326 



XXXI 

A Schoolboy's Sketches Reveal the 
Bent of a Talented Illustrator. 

FREDERIC REMINGTON'S drawings and 
paintings of ranch life are so full of action and 
so vigorously drawn that they have attracted 
attention all over the United States and abroad, 
wherever true art is honored. No living artist can 
equal Remington in bringing into life, as it were, on 
the very canvas, a bucking broncho, or the sweeping 
charge of a force of Uncle Sam's cavalry. One fairly 
sees the dust on the scorching alkali plains, and hears 
the quick clatter of the horse's hoofs as he strikes the 
ground, and gathers his legs again. 

And yet, with all his success, Mr. Remington is most 
unassuming. I went to New Rochelle, where he has a 
cosy place on the crest of a hill. He was in his studio, 
which is an addition to the house ; and, as I descended 
a few steps, he rose from before his easel to greet me. 
His working coat was covered with paint, and he held 
a brush in his left hand. He had not been warned of 
mv mission, and seemed almost startled. 

"I cannot shake hands," he said, looking at me, 
"mine are soiled ; I am a painter, you know." 



Frederic Remington 

He sat clown, hanging one arm over the back of his 
chair. 

"Don't write about me, but speak of my art!" said 
Mr. Remington, 

"But you and your art are one," I repHed, looking 
around the studio, and to its walls hung with Indian 
relics. "Most of your pictures are from experiences 
of your own in the great far west, are they not ?" 

"Yes, but not all," was the reminiscent reply. 

"And those trophies?" I added, glancing at them. 

"O, I bought most of them. That jacket I bought 
from a mounted policeman. Pretty, isn't it? I am 
able to depict the western country and life, because I 
have been there." 

remington's schoolboy effects. 

"When did you first take up art?" 

"I studied some art at the Yale Art School, and a 
little at the Art League. When I was a schoolboy, I 
was forever making sketches on the margin of my 
school-books, but I never really, studied it much, 
although my dream was to be an artist. At nineteen, ] 
caught the fever to go west, and incidentally to become 
rich. That was my idea ; art came second. I ranched 
it, and got into Indian campaigns. I have always been 
fond of horses and out-of-door life, and I got plenty of 
it there, with every opportunity to study the rough life, 
the lay of the country, and the peculiar atmosphere." 

"Mr, Remington," I asked, "how do you get that 

328 



The Artist of the Plains 

'dcvil-may-carc' look in the faces of your cowboys and 
soklicrs?" 

?Iis face lighted up, and a deep twinkle came into 
his eyes. He glanced across the room at just such a 
])icture as I had described. He took his pipe out of his 
mouth and laid it on the window sill. 

REMIXGTOX'S ATTENTION TO DETAIL. 

"Kipling says that, 'a single man in a barrack is not 
a plaster saint,' and that is about it. That cavalryman 
posed for me on his horse. But not all of my work is 
from life. I go west for three months every year, anfl 
gather a lot of sketches and then work them up. Those 
color sketches there, — a chief and his daughter, — are 
from life. You see I was able to get all the color. 
Yet I like to depict white men best ; they are more 
interesting." 

Aly eyes rested on an unfinished picture, toward 
which, every now and then, Mr. Remington turned a 
thoughtful gaze as if trying to think of something. It 
was a birch-bark canoe, with a figure at either end ; 
the water was smooth, and the shore was wooded. One 
person in the motionless canoe was fishing. 

"Is that from memory?" I asked of the artist. 

"Partly," he said, with a smile. "I used to see a 
good many photographs of trout fishing in the Adiron- 
dacks ; Hues taut, and then hurHng a trout through the 
air, to land it in the canoe. So once I thought I would 
try it myself. I went up there and fished for two weeks 

3^9 



Frederic Remington 

in the rain. I am trying to think how to make the rain 
appear to strike and bounce from the water. You know 
liow water looks when it is raining,"— and there came 
into his face a thoughtful and studious look, showing 
how carefully he weighed every detail of his work. 

Mr. Remington rises early, has breakfast at seven, 
and works until three, when he takes his customary 
horseback ride across the country. 

"Do you work from inspiration?" I asked. 

"I do not know what you mean, exactly. I must 
have a study in my mind, and then I work it out. 
Some mornings I can do but little ; but I am kept ex- 
ceedingly busy with constant orders to fill, besides 
illustrating my own articles." 

HOW^ HIS WAR PICTURES ARE MADE. 

"That painting of the charge of the Rough Riders 
up San Juan hill, and your other Cuban pictures, must 
have been interesting work." 

"I saw Roosevelt just before but not during the 
charge. But when you see one, you see all. The 
fighting to-day is done in long, thin lines; the solid 
formations are no longer used. It makes too great a 
target. You are never out of range, for the bullets 
carry a mile and a half. Most of the fighting is done 
lying down, the front line advancing, and the others 
harassing the enemy. To me there was nothing en- 
joyable about it. A correspondent is worse off than 
the soldier. He has no means of transportation. For- 



The Artist of the Plains 

tunately, in Cuba, I secured a horse the day before the 
battle. I made a great number of sketches, but lost 
one of m>- sketch books while crawling on my hands 
and knees through the long grass. It contained many 
bits of action, which I wanted. I suppose it was spoiled, 
or maybe someone found it. But in my younger days, 
I actually enjoyed being in the midst of an Indian 
fight. The climate is so different, and entirely to my 
liking, out west." 

We rose and viewed the studio. 

"How do you get that peculiar alkali, yellowish air 
of the plains ?" I asked, as we stood before an example 
of Mr. Remington's art. 

"Only by having lived there, and after a dint of 
study. That is a dust study." 

"And those blue shadows are correct?" 

COLOR OF THE PLAINS. 

"Yes; you cannot have a black shade out in the 
open, and the atmosphere there causes that particular 
shade. That one above, though, which is also a study, 
shows an almost steel gray shadow, while that other 
one is still darker. These are 'color notes,' of Indian 
ponies, and bronchos. There is no crest or arch to 
their necks. They are really degenerated horses, but 
they can go." 

On a pedestal was a casting of the "Broncho Buster." 
'■"S^ou must have modeled in clay before you did 
that." 



Frederic Remington 

"No, that was my first attempt. I had never put 
my hands to clay before. Painting and modeUng are 
about the same. You must know anatomy in both. I 
never intended to have it cast, but some of my friends, 
on seeing it, said I should, so I had it done. 'Bunkie,' 
which means, in the army, 'comrade,' is my second 
work." 

It was only in 1885 that Mr. Remington turned his 
whole attention to art. On leaving Yale, where he was 
more devoted to football than to study, he served for 
a brief period as confidential clerk to Governor Cor- 
nell, at Albany. But that life was too prosaic ; and, in 
1880, he caught the fever, "to go west." He went to 
Montana, and became a "cow-puncher." Later, he 
made money on a Kansas mule ranch, and was cowboy, 
guide and scout in the southwest. When he had run 
through what he had earned, he returned to Kansas 
City, where the shops displayed his first work. They 
possessed the now well-known Remington style, but 
the colors were daubed on so that they looked like 
chromos, altliough the drawings had that muscular 
dash and action for which his work is noted. 

HIS FIRST SKETCH. 

"My first drawing," said ^h. Remington, "appeared 
in Harper's. It was redrawn by them, but it had in it 
that which they liked." 

In the meantime he had married, and he started east 
with his wife. They arrived in New York with just 



The Artist of the Plains 

three dollars. After engaging u <niall room, he made a 
bee-line for Harper's with a number of sketches. They 
were accepted on the spot, and since then there has 
been no more successful illustrator than F"ederic Rem- 
ington among the celebrated artists of America. 



333 



XXXII 

Rebuffs and Disappointments Fail to 
Repress a Great Cartoonist's 
Genius. 

TO-DAY Homer C. Davenport is the "first 
cartoonist" of America, and yet he is but 
thirty-five years old. Mr. Davenport has a 
small place in Roseville, on the outskirts of 
Newark, New Jersey. He is a tall, handsome man, 
with large, humorous eyes, beneath heavy eyelids, that 
give him an expression of perpetual thought. 

"I suppose you want to see my studio?" Mr. Daven- 
port said. We went upstairs. 

"This is it," he said, with a chuckle. 
It was merely a small, square room, with a few 
framed pictures on the papered walls, and a desk in 
the corner. There was no easel in the room, but I 
saw a drawing-board under the desk. 

Davenport's unique studio. 

"You work on that board, when on the desk?" 
"Yes." 

"You are disappointed," said his sister, with a smile. 
'"It is not what you expected." 

334 



Caricaturist of Public Men 

It wasn't, i had expected to see a typical studio, 
with unfinished cartoons, and the usual artistic sur- 
roundings. 

Mr. Davenport laid an unfinished cartoon on the 
desk, representing- a chariot race, and laughed when 
he explained what it would be and mean ; and this told 
me that he enters heartily in whatever he draws, which 
is requisite to success in art as veil as in other things. 
Then we adjourned to another room and sat about a 
wood fire. 

"Tell me of your beginning," I said. 

"Well, I was born in Oregon, thirty-five years ago, 
on my father's farm. As a child, I was perpetually 
drawing, and to my father I owe much, for it was he 
who encouraged me, my mother dying when I was 
very young. I would lie flat on my stomach, and draw 
on the floor, if I had no paper. As I spent hours this 
way, the habit became injurious to my digestive organs, 
so a flat cushion was made for me. I was a hope- 
lessly poor student, doing more drawing on my slate 
and on the margins of my books than studying. To 
sit in school for any length of time made me sick and 
nervous, so my father called on the schoolmaster and 
gave instructions that, whenever I got tired, I should 
be allowed to draw, or to go home." 

HE DREW CARTOONS TN SCHOOL. 

"This was rather demoralizing to the school, for 
even then I drew cartoons. Finally, T was taken away, 

335 



Homer Davenport 

and my father painted a blackboard, four feet high by 
fifteen feet long, on the side of a room in the farm- 
house, where, with plenty of chalk, I drew to my 
heart's content. I would draw all day." 

"And you received no instructions in drawing?" 

"I never had a lesson in my life. It was my father's 
ambition for me to become a cartoonist. When, in 
later years, I did anything that he considered particu- 
larly good, he would carry me ofif to Portland, and I 
would submit it to the Portland 'Oregonian,' where my 
attempts were always laughed at. Then, much crest- 
fallen, I would return to the farm. 

" 'Now, my boy,' my father would say, 'that is good 
enough to be printed,' and off I would go again. 

"At length, the news spread that I had a job on the 
Portland 'Oregonian.' The whole town became inter- 
ested, and when the day arrived for my departure, the 
band of which I was a member, and many of the towns- 
people, escorted me with due honor to the railroad 
station." 

HIS FIRST DISAPPOINTMENT. 

" 'Well,' I heard some say, 'I guess we will never see 
him again. He's too big for this place.' 

"I was on the Portland 'Oregonian' just one day. 

" 'What's the sense of this?' I was asked. 'You 
can't draw,' and back I went. 

"I had before me the mortification of meeting the 
righteous disgust of my friends. On my way back to 

336 



Caricaturist of Public Men 

Silverton, I heard that they were short of a brakeman 
at the Portland end, so I beat my way back to Port- 
land, and, walking into the office, offered myself. 

" 'What!" said the man. 'What do you know about 
braking? I would like to know who sent you on such 
a fool's errand ?' and he raved and stamped, and swore 
he would discharge everyone on the train. But on 
the next train, I went out as head brakeman. All the 
elements got together, — it rained and snowed and 
froze, and when I got to Silverton, almost frozen, I 
slipped from the train and tramped home, a much dis- 
heartened young man. 

"But just to show my father I had something in me. 
and wanted to make my way in life, I asked to be sent 
to an institution of learning, where I stayed just one 
week. Then I got a place attending to the ink roller 
in the local printing office, where the town paper was 
published, which, to this day, I do not think can be 
beaten," — and I\Ir. Davenport laughed in his hearty 
way. 

AT TEN DOLLARS A WEEK. 

"Finally, my star rose on the horizon. I went to San 
Francisco, and was taken on trial on the 'Examiner.' 
I remember the day well,— February 2, 1892. For one 
mortal week, I simply hung around the office. Then 
I was put to work at ten dollars a week. But I proved 
unsatisfactory. I drew the man over me aside. 

" 'Look here.' I said. 'I can't draw. I want you to 

337 



Homer Davenport 

write to my father and tell him what a failure I am, 
and that his belief that I am an artist is the delusive 
mistake of a fond parent. He sat down to write, and, 
as he was doing so, my fingers, always itching to draw, 
were at work with a pencil in sketching horses, on a 
piece of paper on the table. 

" 'When did you do that?' he asked, picking up the 
paper. 

"I did it just now," I replied, sheepishly. 

" 'What? Do it again.' 

"I did so. He looked at me curiously. 

" 'Wait a bit/ he said. He took the paper into the 
office. 'Come in here,' he said, 'the boys won't believe 
it. Do some more.' 

" 'Davenport,' said the manager, 'you are too old to 
strike a path for yourself. You must put yourself in 
my hands. Do nothing original, not one line.' If the 
manager caught me doing so, he tore it up. 

"I remember one time, Ned Hamilton, a star writer 
on the 'Examiner,' some others, and myself, were 
sent to a Sacramento convention. I drew what I con- 
sidered very good likenesses, and that night, when I 
retired, with a fire burning brightly in the room where 
we all bunked, I fairly kicked my heels in delight, in 
anticipation of the compliments of the 'Examiner.' I 
was awakened by the tearing of a paper, that sent the 
cold sliivers up and down my back. Xed Hamilton 
was grumbling, and throwing my labor into the fire. 

338 



Caricaturist of Public Men 

" 'If you can't do better than that." he said, 'you 
ought to give up.' 

''I almost wept, but it took any conceit I might have 
had out of me, and the next day I did some work that 
was up to the mark." 

HE WAS DISCHARGED IN CHICAGO. 

''But my walking papers came in due time, and I 
went to the 'Chronicle.' It almost took my breath 
away when they offered me twenty dollars a week. 
Before I was discharged from there, I had risen to a 
liigher salary. I went to Chicago, and got on the 
Chicago 'Herald,' at thirty-five dollars a week. I was 
there during the World's Fair. It seemed to nie the 
principal thing I did was to draw horses. But the 
greatest blow of all was when the Chicago 'Herald' 
discharged me. It seemed as if everything were slip- 
ping from beneath my feet. I went back to San Fran- 
cisco and got on the 'Chronicle' again. It was then, 
and not till then, — 1894, — that I was allowed any 
freedom. All that I had been asking an outlet for 
found vent, and my cartoons began to attract attention. 

"William R. Hearst, of the 'Examiner,' asked, in one 
of his editorial rooms : 'Who is that Davenport, on the 
'Chronicle,' who is doing us up all the time?' 

" 'Oh, we bouncefl him ; he's no good,' was the reply. 

" 'Send for him !' said j\Ir. Hearst. 

"No attention was paid to the order. Mr. Hearst 

339 



Homer Davenport 

tuially sent for me himself. I was engaged at forty- 
five dollars a week. Then a thing happened that I will 
never forget, for no raise before or since ever affected 
me to such a degree. 

"I drew a cartoon of Senator 'Steve' White and his 
whiskers. The whiskers so pleased Mr. Hearst, that he 
called me in and said that my pay would be raised five 
dollars a week. I went home that night, and woke up 
my wife to tell her the glad news. She fairly wept for 
joy, and tears trickled down my own cheeks, for that 
increase meant appreciation that I had been starving 
for, and I felt almost secure, — and all on account of 
Senator 'Steve' White's whiskers." 

Here Mrs. Davenport, who had brought us two large 
books, in which she had fondly pasted all of her hus- 
band's work, said : — 

"Yes, no subsequent increase, no matter how large, 
has ever equaled that five-dollar advance." 

IN CLOVER AT LAST. 

Mr. Hearst, as soon as he bought the New York 
"Journal," telegraphed to the "Examiner:" "Send 
Davenport." He is now receiving a very large salary, 
and his work is known throughout the world. 

Two years ago. ^Ir. Davenport went abroad and 
drew sketches of the members of the houses of par- 
liament, and Mr. Phil. May, the English artist, became 
his fast friend. 

In Washington, Senator Hanna insisted upon meet- 



Caricaturist of Public Men 

ing Mr. Davenport, and shaking him by the hand. He 
was the first to immortahze Mr. Hanna, with that 
checkered suit of dollar marks. 

Such is the man and artist. Homer C. Davenport, 
who, in 1894, had not drawn a public cartoon, and who, 
to-day, has a world-wide reputation, and the esteem of 
even those whom he has caricatured, and who cannot 
help enjoying their own exaggerated portraits. Daven- 
port's success has come rapidly, but not until he had 
sustained reverses that v.onld have discouraged an\- 
man of a less resolute character. 



.^41 



XXXIII 

Being Himself in Style and Subjects, 
the Secret of an Artist's Won- 
derful Popularity. 

NOTHING in the studio of Charles Dana Gibson 
suggests that it is a studio, excepting the 
ahen circumstance that it is artistic. Such 
proof tends to puzzle the casual-minded, 
whose mind is trained to look upon any sky-lighted 
room furnished like a pound party, and occupied by 
artists, or brokers, or bachelor wholesale dealers, — as 
a studio. 

Mr. Gibson's studio is a real room, devoted to stern - 
facts, and is, therefore, beautiful. It has no furniture 
that is not essential. Even the large rugs, woven of 
moss and mist and fire, hang on the walls like cover- 
ings, and not by way of decoration. The wood is heavy 
and dark. There are no pictures. 

Mr. Gibson talks while he works. His easel stands 
squarely beneath the skylight, and, as he sat before it 
the other day, a picture grew under his hand while he 
talked about the making of an illustrator. Everything 
he said was emphasized by the slow growth of the 
glorious creature, who was there to show, from her 



i 



Originator of the "Gibson Girl" 

pretty tilted pompadour to the hem of the undoubted 
creation she was wearing, that what the famous illus- 
trator insisted may be done by skill and hard work can 
assuredly be accomplished. 

"When anyone asks me," said Mr. Gibson, "what to 
do to become a successful illustrator, I always assure 
him that he has thought about the matter and doubtless 
knows far more about it than I do, for I know of no 
rule to follow to become what one was born to be, and 
I certainly know of none to prevent one from faihng 
at something for which he has no talent. 

"If a man knows how to draw, he will draw ; and all 
the discouragements and all the bad teachers in the 
world cannot turn him aside. If he has no ability, he 
will drift naturally into school-teaching and buying 
stocks, without anybody's rules to direct him either 
way. 

"The main thing is to have been born an artist." 

Mr, Gibson said this quite simply, as if he were ad- 
vising a course in something, or five grains of medicine. 

"If you were that," he went on, "you yourself know 
it far better than anyone can tell you, and you know 
also, in your heart, that neither wrong teaching nor 
anything but idleness can prevent your success. If 
you are not a born artist, you may not know it. I think 
I can soon say something about the way to find your 
limitations, but no one can say much to help a born 
genius. His genius is largely, indeed, that he knows 
how to help himself." 

343 



Charles Dana Gibson 

Lightly leaving the student of illustrating adequately 
provided with having been born a genius, Mr. Gibson 
went on to tell what should be his education before he 
begins to study art, and upon this he put on record an 
opinion which is a departure from current belief. 

A NATURAL ARTIST WILL NEVER REQUIRE AN 
INSTRUCTOR. 

"I do not think," he said, "that the previous training 
of a student who begins studying illustrating has much 
to do with his career. It seems to me that his actual 
previous education matters very little. If he wants to 
learn, he will learn. If he does not, he will not. If he 
does not want to learn, his attempt at an education will 
profit him very little. His gift for illustrating, if he 
has it, is a thing not more dependent upon his educa- 
tion than upon his surroundings. While there are in- 
stances in which an education forced upon a pupil has 
b n acknowledged by lam afterward to mean much 
to him, there are also cases in all arts of which we say 
that contact with the schoolmen would not have been 
an advantage." 

Mr. Gibson said this quite tranquilly, as if it were 
not an idea at odds with all other accepted statements 
that the thorough education of an artist is the best 
foundation for anything he may undertake. 

"That leaves a good deal of work for the pupil's 
master," I suggested. 

"Master!" exclaimed Mr. Gibson, with almost a 

344 



Originator of the "Gibson Girl" 

frown; "what is a master? Have we any masters 
now? It seems to me that the word has lost its old 
meaning, and that there is no longer such a thing as a 
'master.' Suppose we say 'teacher' instead ! And then 
let me add this : I do not believe the teacher matters in 
the least." 

"Don't you think," I demanded, "that a pupil would 
make better progress with you for a teacher than he 
would with somebody whose work had no value ?" 

IF YOU DO NOT SEE YOUR MISTAKES, NO ONE ELSE CAN. 

"Not a bit," he said, promptly. "To tell the truth, 
I think the teaching of drawing is an over-estimated 
profession. It doesn't seem to me as if I could teach, — 
as if I would feel it would be exactly honest to teach. 
Why. see for yourself, — what can a teacher do?" 

Mr. Gibson laid down his pencil, but he continued 
thus : — 

"I was for a year at the Art League, and two years 
in Paris. In Paris we used to sit in rows at canvases, 
like this. We saw our teacher for half an hour, twice 
a day. He would come and spend less than two minutes 
beside the chair of each of us, and what would he do? 
Point out a mistake, or a defect, or, rarely, an excel- 
lence, which, if we had any talent at all, we could see 
perfectly well for ourselves. This last is the important 
point. 

"If you are a born illustrator, you will know your 
ov/n mistakes better than anyone can tell you about 

345 



Charles Dana Gibson 

them. If you do not see your mistakes, nobody can ever 
liclp you to be anything. All the teachers in all the art 
schools cannot help you if you cannot see your mis- 
takes. I said I could help a pupil to know his own limi- 
tations. Well, that is the way. If your own work looks 
quite finished and perfect to you, or if it looks wrong 
but you cannot tell exactly what is the inaccuracy or 
lack, you may depend upon it th.it you were not born 
to be an illustrator. 

"That is true in anything. The writer, the sculptor 
and the musician have to stand this test. What sort 
of musician would a man be who could not detect a 
discord ? You can see it easily enough with that illus- 
tration. Well, your illustrator must see a bad bit of 
drawing, or bad composition, just as quickly as a born 
piano player can tell if he has played without ex- 
pression. It is just as true in art as it is in ordinary 
matters. The snow-shoveler must know when his side- 
walk is clean, the typewriter when the words are cor- 
rectly spelled, the cook when her pastry tastes right, — 
or they are all discharged forthwith. Well, one ex- 
pects no less of an illustrator than of a cook." 

THE VALUE OF ARTISTIC INDIVIDUALITY. 

Mr. Gibson returned to his board, and what he said 
next was wonderfully extra-illustrated by the girl — 
"Gibson" to her finger-tips, — who looked up at him. 

"The whole value of your work is its individuality," 
he said, "and for that you are obliged to depend abso- 



Orimnator of the "Gibson Girl" 

D 

lutely upon yourself. Obviously nobody can show you 
how to be original. 

"Now take the simple example of a copy book. Do 
}OU remember how the letters used to look, and the 
elaborate directions which accompanied every writing 
lesson? The 'a's,' and so on, must be just of a height. 
The 't's' must be twice as high. The 'I's' and the 'h's' 
must be a quarter-length or so above those. Well, as 
a matter of fact, who writes like that? Nobody. If 
anyone did he would simply be laughed at, and justly 
so. His handwriting would mean nothing. It would 
have no individuality. Everybody simply keeps the 
letters in mind and forms them to suit himself, and 
after a time he has a writing which he can never change 
by any chance. That has become the way he writes. 

"Well, it is just the same in illustrating. I might 
tell you all that I know about drawing; any teacher 
might tell you all he knows ; but. gradually, by obser- 
vation and the assertion of your own personality, you 
will modify all these forms, and will find yourself 
drawing one special way. That is the way you draw, 
and you can never change it in essence, though you 
may go on improving it forever. 

"Now, to my mind, just so much Instruction in draw- 
ing is necessary as is needed to tell the child who is 
learning to write which letter is which, and how to 
pronounce and recognize it. That once learned, the 
child will go its own sweet way and develop a hand- 
writing such as no one in the world can exactly dupli- 

3] 7 



Charles Dana Gibson 

cate. So it is with drawing. When the hrst funda- 
mental instructions are over, — which anyone who can 
draw can give you, — you are your own master, and will 
draw or not, as you were born to do, 

"Remember that I am not saying that I regret the 
time I spent studying, either here or in Paris I am 
only telling you what I regard as necessary for one who 
wants to learn. 

"Now, just as the way to learn to write is to write, 
so the way to learn to draw is to draw. I think it is 
best to begin with objects in the room, and with figures, 
— any objects, any figures, — it does not matter. But 
draw one over and over again ; draw it from all sides ; 
draw it big, and draw it little, and draw it again. 
Then go to something else, and then come back to it 
later the same day. Put them all away till the next 
day, and then find the mistakes in them. Here is some- 
thing to remember, and something which ought to 
hearten many a discouraged student quite blue because 
of what really should have encouraged him : Do not 
be discouraged at the mistakes you can find in your 
own work, unless you find only a small number. The 
more mistakes you can detect, the better able you are to 
draw. Do not leave a thing until you are satisfied, 
after going back to it every day for weeks, that you can 
draw it no better. Then, if you come upon it the next 
year, and still see no room for improvement, — well, 
then there is still room for discouragement about your- 
self." 



Originator of the "Gibson Girl' 



WHILE STUDYING ART, ONE SHOULD WORK INCES- 
SANTLY. 

"In all this work, observe one rule: Never mind 
about drawing a thing as you may possibly have been 
told to do in the course of instruction. Draw it the 
way it looks to you. You will see it differently as 
you go back to it again and again. If you do not see 
it differently, you cannot see your own mistakes, and 
that is positive proof that for you fame is waiting at 
some other door, — or, at any rate, that it will not come 
to you from art. 

"How much ought one to work? All the time. 
Draw all the time. Look all the time for something 
to draw. In the beginning, never pass anything with- 
out wresting from it its blessing, so to speak. Before 
you pass, be sure you can draw it ; and the only way to 
be sure of that is to draw it several times. The objects 
in a room are a little simpler than figures, at first, but 
figures are the most interesting, and you must draw 
whatever interests you. If you would rather draw 
crawfish and bootjacks than men and women, draw 
crawfish and bootjacks. It really doesn't so much 
matter what you draw ; the point is that you draw. 
But it is important to you that you develop a taste for 
drawing something special, — and of that you need 
have no fear if you are a born artist. If you are not, 
as I said, it doesn't matter. 

"I always feel that any general talk about the way 

349 



Charles Dana Gibson 

to succeed, in any art one selects, is rather unnecessary. 
I cannot repeat too often that I believe, if the student 
has it in him to draw, he will not need to be told to 
persevere, or to work hard, or to be careful of bad in- 
fluences in his work, or to avoid imitation, — he will do 
all these as naturally as he will hold a pencil. Holding 
a pencil, by the way, is another example of what I just 
spoke of. Do you remember that they used to tell us 
just how our fingers must hold the pen, and how the 
whole arm ought to move? 'What will they think of 
you,' they said, 'when you get out in the world, if you 
hold your pencil like that?' As a matter of fact, no- 
body gives the matter a thought, and hardly one of us 
holds a pencil that way. It is so with many of the 
formulae of an art. But isn't it curious that I never 
did get out of holding my pencil that prescribed way? 
I do happen to hold my pencil correctly." 

''Maybe you held some of the other fornudae the 
same way," I suggested, "and they are influencing 
you." 

"Oh, well," said Mr. Gibson, "so far as the pencil 
goes, I fancy, perhaps, that I draw in spite of the way 
I hold it rather than because of it." 

Then he made a small retraction of his remark. 

"There is one class of teachers," he said, "that I 
count, — pictures. Pictures are always at hand, — and 
good work is the best teacher in the world. A pupil 
in New York ought to go to the art gallery often and 
often, and sit there and steep himself in what he sees. 



Originator of the "Gibson Girl"' 

Let him go to study definite pictures, too, — but just to 
sit and absorb, — as one sits in a garden, or before an 
old tower, or by the sea, — without sketching, only just 
looking, — that is the best instruction you can pay for 
on either continent." 

The picture of the girl on the board was practically 
complete, with its high little chin and haughty mouth 
and fearless eyes, and it seemed so alive that getting 
to be a great illustrator appeared hopeless by the side 
of it. 

"How long," I asked, "does it take, normally, to find 
out if you're a born artist or not ?" 

Mr. Gibson laughed and took it the other way. 

"A very long time," he said, regretfully, "and some 
of us even go down blind to our graves." 



351 



XXXIV 

A "Printer's Devil" Whose Perse- 
verance Wins Him Weil-Earned 
Reputation as a Fun-Maker. 

THE felicity of F. Opper's caricatures is mar- 
velous. His drawings for the Dinkelspiel 
stories, by George V. Hobart, in the New 
York "Morning Journal"' have drawn to him 
the pleased attention of those whom he has caused to 
laugh at the happy expressions of his characters, — at 
the ridiculous expressions of the characters, — during 
Mr. Dinkelspiel's "gonversationings," particularly at 
Mr. Dinkelspiel's earnest look. 

He is a caricaturist of the "first water," and in this 
connection I may say that a caricature too carefully 
drawn often loses its humor. Still Mr. Opper has 
proved his ability to finish a drawing smoothly. Those 
familiar with the back numbers of "Puck" will concede 
this and much more. 

His life is an example of determination. I called, by 
appointment, at his house in Bensonhurst (near Bath 
Beach), a pretty suburb within the precincts of Greater 
New York. We stepped into his library. 

He drew my attention to the pictures on the four 



Originator of the "Suburban Resident" 

walls of the room. "Those are all 'originals,' by con- 
temporaries," he said, "and there is one by poor Mike 
Woolf. We were intimate friends, and I attended his 
funeral." 

STUDIES OUT HIS IDEAS. 

The conversation turned toward Mr. Opper himself, 
and I asked : — 

"How is it you can conceive so many ridiculous ideas 
and predicaments?" 

"It is a matter of study," he replied. "I work me- 
thodically certain hours of the day, but very seldom at 
night. We will say it is a political cartoon on a certain 
occurrence that I am to draw. I deliberately sit down 
and study out my idea. When it is formed, I begin to 
draw. I never commence to draw without a conception 
of what I am going to do." 

"And when did you first put pencil to paper?" I 
asked. 

"Almost as soon as I could creep. I was born in 
Madison, Ohio, in 1857, and as far back as I can re- 
member, I had a determination to become an artist. 
My path often swerved from my ambition, on account 
of necessity, but my determination was back of me. and 
whenever an obstacle was removed I advanced thus 
much farther toward my goal. 

"I went to the village school till I was fourteen years 
of age, and then I went to work in the village store. 
Both at school and in tlie store, every spare moment 

353 



Frederick Burr Opper 

found me with pencil and paper, sketching something 
comical; so much so, indeed, that I became known 
for it." 

A printer's devil. 

"I remained in the store for a few months, and then 
went to work on the weekly paper, and acted the part 
of a 'printer's devil.' Afterward, I set type. In about 
a year, the idea firmly possessed me that I could draw, 
and I decided that it was best to go to New York. But 
my self-esteem was not so great as to rate myself a full- 
fledged artist. My idea was to obtain a position as a 
compositor in New York, to draw between times, and 
gradually to land myself where my hopes all centered. 
So my disappointment was great when, on arriving in 
the city, I discovered that, to become a compositor, I 
must serve an apprenticeship of three years. I was in 
New York, in an artistic environment, and had burned 
my bridges ; accordingly I looked for a place, and ob- 
tained one in a store. One of my duties there was to 
make window cards, to advertise the whole line, or a 
particular lot of goods. I decorated them in my best 
fashion. 

GOOD USE OF LEISURE TIME. 

"All the leisure I had to myself, evenings and hoH- 
days, I spent in making comic sketches, and I took them 
to the comic papers,'^to the 'Phunny Phellow,' and 
'Wild Oats.' I just submitted rough sketches. Soon 

354 



Originator of the "•Subuilxin Resident" 

the editors permitted me to draw the sketches also, 
which was great encouragement. I met Frank Beard, 
and called on him, by request, and he proposed that I 
come into his office. So I left the store, after having 
been there eight or nine months, and ceased drawing 
show-cards for the windows. I drew for 'Wild Oats,' 
'Harper's Weekly,' 'Frank Leslie's,' and the 'Century,' 
v.hich at that time was Scribner's publication; and 
later for 'St. Nicholas.' " 

It was then that Mr. Opper had an ofifer from "Les- 
lie's" to work on the staff at a salary, which he 
accepted. 

"I was only a little over twenty years of age," he con- 
tinued. "I v.as a humorous draughtsman, and a special 
artist, also ; going where I was directed to make 
sketches of incidents, people and scenes," 

Six years before, Mr. Opper had left the village 
school with a burning determination to become an 
artist. It can be seen how well he sailed his bark, — 
tacking and drifting, and finally beating home with the 
wind full on the sails. This shows what determination 
will do. 

HIS CONNECTION WITH "PUCK." 

"Three years later," said Mr. Opper, "I had an offer 
from the publishers of 'Puck' to work for them, — a 
connection which I severed not long ago, although I 
still hold stock in the company. I not only made my 
own drawings, but furnished ideas for others. I have 

355 



Frederick Burr Opper 

always furnished my own captions, inscriptions and 
headings. Indeed, they are a part of a cartoon, or 
other humorous work. I tliink that I may say that 
'Puck' owes some of its success to me, for I labored 
conscientiously." 

Mr. Opper walked over to a mantelpiece for two 
books of sketches, which he handed me to look at. 
They contained sketches of the country places he had 
visited on his summer wanderings. 

"And you use these?" I asked. 

"Yes ; if I want a farmer leaning over a fence with 
a cow in the distance. I can use that barnyard scene 
And that bit of a country road can be made useful. So 
can that corncrib with the tin pans turned upside down 
on the posts supporting it, to keep the rats off. That 
old hay-wagon, and that farmer with a rake and a large 
straw hat can all be worked in. I always carry a sketch- 
book with me, no matter where I go." 

THE ''suburban RESIDENT." 

On "Puck," Mr. Opper was the originator of the 
"suburban resident," who has since been the subject of 
much innocent merriment, — the gentleman with the 
high silk hat. side whiskers, glasses, an anxious ex- 
pression, and bundles, and always on the rush for a 
train. 

"I enjoyed those," said Mr. Opper, with a laugh, 
"before I became a suburban myself." 

"It seems miraculous," I remarked, "that one brain 



Originator of the "Suburban Resident" 

can think up so many ideas. I suppose, when walking 
along the street, you see humor and queer positions, 
which you exaggerate." 

"No ; I have often heard of persons doing so. but T 
don't think Lever have, myself. I receive many let- 
ters, come enclosing rougl sketches, as suggestions. 1 
have never used them, either. In most cases, they hint 
at an untimely joke, or are conceptions that would 
have to be worked over from an entirely different 
standpoint. I read the newspapers, and follow current 
events, keep myself posted, and draw from this infor- 
mation. After an idea is formed, I think it out. 
Almost every night, at home, I sit here, alone, and plan 
mv work for the next day." 



357 



XXXV 

A Square Man in a Round Hole " 
Rejects 85,000 a Year and Be- 
comes a Sculptor. 

^ .n^ /rY LIFE?"' repeated F. Wellington Ruck- 
t % 1% /■ stuhl, one of the foremost sculptors of 



M 



America, as we sat in his studio looking 
up at his huge figure of "Force." "When 
did I begin to sculpture? As a child I was forever 
whittling, but I did not have dreams then of becoming 
a sculptor. It was not till I was thirty-two years of 
age. And love, — disappointment in my first love played 
a prominent part." 

"But as a boy, ]\Ir. Ruckstuhl ?" 

"I was a poet. Every sculptor or artist is necessarily 
a poet. I was always reaching out and seeking the 
beautiful. My father was a foreman in a St. Louis 
machine shop. He came to this country in a sailing 
ship from Alsace, by way of the Gulf, to St. Louis, 
when I was but six years old. He was a very pious 
man and a deacon in a church. One time. Moody and 
Sankey came to town, and my father made me attend 
the meetings. I think he hoped that I would become a 
minister. But T decided that 'many are called, but few 

358 



Sculptor 

are chosen.' Between the ages of fourteen and nine- 
teen, I worked in a photographic supply store; wrote 
one hundred poems, and read incessantly. I enlarged 
a view of the statue of Nelson in Trafalgar Square, 
London, into a ' plaster sketch,' ten times as large as 
the picture, but still I did not know my path. I began 
the study of philosophy, and kept up my reading for 
ten years. My friends thought I would become a liter- 
ary man. I wrote for the papers, and belonged to a 
prominent literary club. I tried to analyze myself. ' I 
am a man,' I said, 'but what am I good for ? What am 
I to make of this life ?' I drifted from' one position to 
another. Every one was sorry to part with my ser- 
vices, for I always did my duties as well as they can 
be done. When I was twenty-five years of age, the 
girl to whom I was attached was forced by her mother 
to marry a wealthy man. She died a year afterward, 
and I ' pulled up stakes,' and started on a haphazard, 
reckless career. I w^ent to Colorado, drifted into Ari- 
zona, prospected, mined and worked on a ranch. I 
went to California, and at one time thought of shipping 
for China. My experiences would fill a book. Again 
T reached St. Louis. For a year I could not find a 
thing to do, and became desperate." 

MADE HIS FIRST SKETCH AT TWENTY-FIVE. 

"And you had done nothing at art so far ?" I asked. 

"At that time I saw a clay sketch. I said to myself. 

* I can do as well as that.' and T copied it. My second 

359 



F. Wellington Ruckstuhl 

sketch admitted me to the St. Louis Sketch Ckib. I 
told my friends that I would be a sculptor. They 
laughed and ridiculed me. I had secured a position in 
a store, and at odd times worked at what I had always 
loved, but had only half realized it. Notices appeared 
in the papers about me, for I was popular in the com- 
munity. I entered the competition for a statue of Gen- 
eral Frank R. Blair. I received the first prize, but 
when the committee discovered that I was only a bill 
clerk in a store, they argued that I was not competent 
to carry out the work, although I was given the first 
prize medal and the one hundred and fifty dollars ac- 
companying it." 

"But that inspired you?" 

"Yes, but my father and mother put every obstacle 
in the way possible. I was driven from room to room. 
I was not even allowed to work in the attic." Here 
Mr. Ruckstuhl laughed. "You see what genius has to 
contend with. I was advanced in position in the store, 
till I became assistant manager at two thousand dollars 
a year. When I told the proprietor that I had decided 
to be a sculptor, he gazed at me in blank astonishment. 
'A sculptor?' he queried, incredulously, and made a few 
very discouraging remarks, emphasized with dashes. 
'Why, young man, are you going to throw up the 
chance of a lifetime? I will give you five thousand 
dollars a year, and promote you to be manager if you 
will remain with me.' " 



360 



Sculptor 

HE GAVE UP A LARGE SALARY TO I'URSUE ART. 

"But I had found my life's work," said Mr. Ruck- 
stuhl, turning to me. "I knew it woukl be a struggle 
through poverty, till I attained fame. But I was con- 
fident in myself, which is half of the battle." 
"And you went abroad ?" 

"Yes, with but two hundred and fifty dollars," he 
replied. "I traveled through Europe for five months, 
and visited the French Salon. I said to myself, 'I can 
do that, and that,' and my confidence grew. But there 
was some work that completely 'beat' me. I returned 
to America penniless, but with a greater insight into 
art. I determined that I would retrace my steps to 
Paris, and study there for three years, and thought 
that would be sufficient to fully develop me. My family 
and friends laughed me to scorn, and I was discouraged 
by everyone. In four months, in St. Louis, I secured 
seven orders for busts, at two hundred dollars each, to 
be done after my return from France. That shows that 
some persons had confidence in me and in my talent. 

"O, the student life in Paris ! How I look back with 
pleasure upon those struggling, yet happy days! In 
two months, I started on my female figure of 'Evening,' 
in the nude, that now is in the Metropolitan Museum 
of Art. I finished it in nine months, and positively 
sweat blood in my work. I sent it to the Salon, and 
went to Italy. When I returned to Paris, I saw my 
name in the paper, with honorable mention. I suppose 
von can realize mv feelings : I experienced the first 

3f» 



F. Wellington Ruckstuhl 

flush of victory. I brought it to America, and exposed 
it in St. Louis. Strange to say, I rose in the estimation 
of even my family. My father actually congratulated 
me. A wealthy man in St. Louis gave me three 
thousand dollars to have my 'Evening' put into marble. 
I returned with it to Paris, and in a month and a quar- 
ter it was exhibited in the Salon. At the world's Fair 
at Chicago, it had the place of honor, and received one 
of the eleven grand medals given to American sculp- 
tors. In 1892, I came to New York. This statue of 
'Force' will be erected, with my statue of 'Wisdom,' 
on the new Hall of Records in New York." 

We gazed at it, seated and clothed in partial armor, 
of the old Roman type, and holding a sword across its 
knees. The great muscles spoke of strength and force, 
and yet with it all there was an almost benign look 
upon the military visage. 

"There is force and real action there, withal, although 
there is repose," I said in admiration. 

THE INSPIRATION THAT COUNTS. 

"Oh," said Air. Ruckstuhl, "that's it, and that is 
what it is so hard to get ! That is what every sculptor 
strives for ; and, unless he attains it, his work, from my 
point of view is worthless. There must be life in a 
statue ; it must almost breathe. In repose there must 
be dormant action that speaks for itself." 

"Is most of your work done under inspiration?" I 
asked. 

362 



Sculptor 

"There is nothing, and a great deal, in so-called in- 
spiration. I firmly believe that we mortals are merely 
tools, mediums, at work here on earth. I peg away 
and bend all my energies to my task. I simply accom- 
plish nothing. Suddenly, after considerable prepara- 
tory toil, the mist clears away ; I see things clearly ; 
everything is outlined for me. I believe there is a con- 
scious and a subconscious mind. The subconscious 
mind is the one that does original work ; it cannot be 
afifected by the mind that is conscious to all our petty 
environments. When the conscious mind is lulled and 
silenced, the subconscious one begins to work. That I 
call inspiration." 

"Are you ever discouraged ?" I asked out of curiosity. 

"Continually," replied Air. Ruckstuhl, looking down 
at his hands, soiled with the working clay. "Some days 
I will be satisfied with what I have done. It will strike 
me as simply fine. I will be as happy as a bird, and 
leave simply jo3-ous. The following morning, when 
the cloths are removed, I look at my precious toil, and 
consider it vile. I ask myself: 'Are you a sculptor or 
not ? Do you think that you ever will be one ? Do you 
consider that art?' So it is, till your task is accom- 
plished. You arc your own critic, and are continually 
distressed at your inability to create your ideals." 

i\f r. F. Wellington Ruckstuhl is fifty years of age ; 
neither short nor tall ; a brilliant man, vrith wonderful 
]-)ov,-ers of endurance, for his work is more exacting 
and tedious than is generally supposed. 



F. Wellington Ruckstuhl 

"I have simply worked a month and a quarter on 
that statue," he said. "Certain work dissatisfied me, 
and I obliterated it. I have raised that head three 
times. My eyes get weary, and I become physically 
tired. On such occasions I sit down and smoke a little 
to distract my thoughts, and to clear my mind. Then 
my subconscious mind comes into play again," he con- 
cluded with a smile. 

Mr. Ruckstuhl's best known works are: "Mercury 
Teasing the Eagle of Jupiter," which is of bronze, nine 
feet high, which he made in Paris ; a seven-foot statue 
of Solon, erected in the Congressional Library at 
Washington ; busts of Franklin, Goethe and Macaulay, 
on the front of the same library; and the eleven-foot 
statue of bronze of "Victory," for the Jamaica sol- 
diers' and sailors' monument. In competition, he won 
the contract for an equestrian statue of General John 
F. Hartranft, ex-Governor of Pennsylvania, which he 
also made in Paris. It is considered the finest piece of 
work of its kind in America. Besides this labor, he has 
made a number of medallions and busts. 

"Art was in me as a child," he said ; "I was discour- 
aged whenever it beckoned me, but finally it claimed 
me. I surrendered a good position to follow it, whether 
it led through a thorny road or not. A sculptor is an 
artist, a musician, a poet, a writer, a dramatist, to throw 
action, breath and life, music and a soul into his crea- 
tion. I can pick up an instrument and learn it in- 
stantly ; I can sing, and act. so I am in touch with the 

3^4 



Sculptor 

sympathies of the beings that 1 endeavor to create. 
You will find most sculptors and artists of my com- 
posite nature. 

"There," said Mr. Ruckstuhl, and he stretched out 
his arm, with his palm downward, and moved it 
through the air, as he gazed into distance, "you strive 
to create the imagination of your mind, and it comes 
to you as if sent from another world. 

"You strive. That is the way to success." 



365 



X XVI 

During Leisure Hours He ''Found 
Himself" and Abandoned the 
Law for Art. 

THERE is a charming lesson in the way Henry 
Merwin Shrady, the sculptor, '•found him- 
self." A few years ago, this talented artist, 
whose splendid buffalo and moose ornamented 
the entrance of the Pan-American Exposition at Buf- 
falo, was employed as an assistant manager in the 
match business of his brother-in-law, Edwin Gould. It 
was by attempts at self-improvement through painting 
in oil, during leisure hours, that he discovered his 
capacity for art, and, finalh-, for sculpture of a high 
order of merit. 

"I always secretly wished," he said modestl}-, "to 
become a great painter, and, with that in view, dabbled 
in oils from childhood. My family wished me to study 
medicine, but my nature revolted at the cutting of 
flesh ; so, after a course at Columbia University, I 
studied law. An attack of typhoid fever, caught at a 
Yale-Harvard boat race, after my graduation, incapaci- 
tated me for work for a year. Then I went into the 
match business, instead of practicing law. 

366 



Sculptor of Animal Lite 

''After business hours and on holidays, I taught my- 
self painting. I have never taken a lesson in drawing, 
in painting, or in sculpture, in my life. I joined the 
Bronx Zoological Society, that I might the better 
study animals, and it was at these gardens that I made 
the sketches for my bufitalo and moose." 

Mr. Shrady taught himself the art of mixing oils, 
and then, in spare hours, called on William H. Beard, 
at his studio, for the delineator of "The Bulls and 
Bears of Wall Street" to criticise his sketches. Once 
j\Ir. Beard said, prophetically, "Some day you will for- 
sake all for art." 

A PET DOG HIS FIRST PAINTING. 

The young artist had, at his home, a fox-terrier, of 
which he was very fond. He painted a picture of the 
dog, and his wife, thinking it an excellent piece of 
work, offered it clandestinely for exhibition at the 
National Academy of Design. It was accepted. Great 
was his astonishment when he recognized it there. It 
w^as sold for fifty dollars. His next serious attempt 
was caused by a little rivalry. His sister brought from 
abroad an expensive painting of some French kittens. 
He instantly took a dislike to the kittens, and said he 
would paint her some Angora ones. To make satisfac- 
tory sketches, he carried a sketch-book in his pocket, 
on his walks to and from his office, pausing on the 
pavements before the different fanciers' \\-indows to 
sketch the kittens within. This picture was also ac- 



Henry Merwin Shrady 

cepted by the National Academy of Design. But he 
refused an offer to sell it, as he had promised it to his 
sister, Mrs. Gould, for a Christmas present. 

"It was on account of the almost impossible feat of 
getting colorings at night," he said, "that I turned to 
modeling in clay. I wanted to do something to im- 
prove as well as amuse me. I modeled a battery going 
into action, but did not finish it till persuaded to do so 
by Alvin S. Southworth, a special correspondent of a 
New York paper in the Crimean War, and friend of 
my father. Dr. Shrady. It was to gratify him that I 
finished it. A photograph of it, reproduced in 'The 
Journalist,' attracted a gentleman in the employ of the 
firm of Theodore B. Starr. He called upon me, and 
encouraged me to have it made in Russian bronze. 
That house purchased it, and advised me to enter the 
field, as they saw prospects for American military 
pieces." 

Mr. Shrady sketched the gun-carriage and harness 
for his battery in the Seventh Regiment armory, to 
which regiment he has belonged for seven years ; and 
his own saddle horse was his model for the horses of 
the battery. 

One day Carl Bitter, the sculptor, dropped in at 
Starr's, while Mr. Shrady was there. He noticed the 
small bronzes, — the buffalo and the moose. "I think 
we can use them at the Buffalo Exposition," he said. 
Mr. Bitter offered the sculptor the use of his studio, in 
Hoboken, and, in six weeks, by rising at half past five 

368 



Sculptor of Animal Life 

in the morning, and working ten hours a day, he 
enlarged his buffalo to eight feet in height, and his 
moose, a larger animal, to nine feet. Then glue molds 
were taken of both of them, with the greatest care. 

"I had never enlarged, or worked in plaster of Paris 
before," said Mr. Shrady. "They gave me the tools 
and plaster, and told me to go to work. I didn't know 
how to proceed, at first, but eventually learned all right. 
I think I could do such work with more ease now," he 
added, "for that was practical experience I could not 
get in an art school." 

Since then, JNIr. Shrady has made a realistic cavalry 
piece, ''Saving the Colors," — of two horsemen, one 
shot and falling, and the other snatching the colors; 
also, "The Empty Saddle," — of a cavalry horse, sad- 
dled and bridled, and quietly grazing at a distance from 
the scene of the death of his rider. This was exhibited 
at the Academy of American Artists. The Academy 
of Fine Arts, of Philadelphia, requested Mr. Shrady to 
exhibit at its exhibition in January, 1902. 

The youthful sculptor has the gift of giving life, ex- 
pression and feeling to his animals, which, some say, is 
unsurpassed. 

A UNIQUE EXPERIMENT WITH A HORSE. 

"I do not believe," said he, "in working from an 
anatomical figure, or in covering a horse with skin and 
hair after you have laid in his muscles. You are apt to 
make prominent muscles which are not really promi- 

3^9 



Henry Merwin Shrady 

nent. Once I soaked a horse with water, and took 
photographs of him, to make a record of the muscles 
and tendons that really show. They are practically few, 
except when in active use. In an art school you learn 
little about a horse. The way which I approve is to 
place a horse before you, study him and know him, and 
work till you have reproduced him. No master, stand- 
ing over your shoulder, can teach you more than you 
can observe, if you have the soul. Corot took his easel 
into the woods, and studied close to nature, till he 
painted truthfully a landscape. Angelo's best work was 
that done to suit his personal view. 

"Talent may be born, but it depends upon your own 
efforts whether it comes to much. I believe that if your 
hobby, desire, or talent, whichever you wish to call it, is 
to paint or model, you can teach yourself better than 
you can be taught, providing you really love your work, 
as I do." 

Thus did Mr. Shrady desert a mechanical life he dis- 
liked, and start on a promising career. He is still 
young, slight, and with delicate features. His heart is 
tender toward animals, and he refuses to hunt. His 
chief delight is in riding the horse vdiich has figured 
so prominently in his work. His success proves two 
things : the value of leisure moments, and the wisdom 
of turning a hobbv into a career. 



XXXVII 

Deformed in Body, His Cheerful 
Spirit Makes Him the Enter- 
tainer of Princes. 

A SCORE of years ago, seated on a bench in 
Bryant Park, a hungry lad wept copious tears 
over his faikire to gain a supper or a night's 
lodging. A peddler's outfit lay beside him. 
Not a sale had he made that day. His curiously di- 
minutive body was neatly clad, but his heart was heavy. 
He was dreadfully hungry, as only a boy can be. 

"Oh, see the funny little man !" exclaimed a quartet 
of little girls, as they trooped past the shrinking figure. 
"Mamma! Come and buy something from him!" 

Down the steps of a brown stone mansion came a 
young matron, curiosity shining out of her handsome 
eyes. The boy looked up and smiled. The lady did 
not buy anything, but her mother's heart was touched, 
and before she hurried home with her little girls, she 
gave him five cents. 

Last winter, two members of the Lamb's Club were 
about to part on the club steps. One was "The Prince 
of Entertainers and the Entertainer of Princes," Mar- 



Marshall P. Wilder 

shall P. Wilder. The other was a distinguished 
lawyer. 

"Come and dine with me to-night, Mr. Wilder," 
said the latter. "You have never accepted my hos- 
pitality, but you have no engagements for to-night, so 
come along." 

Ten minutes later, the great entertainer was pre- 
sented to the wife of his host and to four beautiful 
young women. 

A curious thrill passed over the guest as he looked 
into those charming faces. They seemed familiar. A 
flash of memory carried him back to that scene in the 
park. He turned to the hostess : — 

"Do you remember," — his voice trembled, — "a little 
chap in the park years ago, to whom you were kind, — 
'a funny little man,' the children called him, and you 
gave him five cents?" 

"Yes, yes, I do remember that, — and you — ?" 
"I am the funny little man." 

It was indeed true. The hungry boy had not for- 
gotten it, though wealth and fame had come to him in 
the meanwhile. In a little ]»rivate diary that no one sees 
but himself, he has five new^ birth dates marked, those 
of the mother and her four daughters. '"Just to re- 
member those who have been kind to me," is the only 
explanation on the cover of the book. 

What a brightly interesting story is Wilder's, any- 
way ! Who else in all this great, broad land has made 
such a record, — from a peddler's pack to a fortune of 

37^ 



Prince of Entertainers 

one Imndred thousand dollars, — and all because he is 
merry and bright and gay in spite of his physical draw- 
backs. His nurse dropped him when he was an infant, 
but for vears the injury did not manifest itself. At 
three he was a bright baby, the pride of the dear old 
father, Doctor Wilder, who still survives to enjoy his 
son's popularity in the world of amusement-makers. It 
was no fault of the doctor that Marshall was obliged 
to go hungry in New York. Doctor Wilder lived and 
practiced in Hartford, where his son ought to have 
staved, but he didn't. At five he was handsome and 
v,-ell formed, but at twelve he stopped growing. The 
boys began to tease him about his diminutive stature. 

"I don't think I've grown very much since, — except 
in experience." he said the other day in the course of 
a morning chat in his handsome bachelor apartments. 
"I thought, by leaving home, I might at least grow up 
with the country." 

"But you didn't grow, after all?" 

"No, I haven't found the country yet that can make 
me grow up with it. I guess I'll have to be satisfied 
with being a plain expansionist." [Mr. Wilder is 
nearly as broad as he is long.] 

•'How did you happen to choose the amusement 
profession?" I asked. 

nature's i.aw of compexsatiox. 

"I was always a good mimic," he replied, '"and I 

373 



Marshall P. Wilder 

found my talents lay in that direction. I created a 
new Inisiness. that of story-teller, imitator of celebrated 
people, and of sleight-of-hand performer, all without 
the aid of costum.es, depending solely on my facial ex- 
pression to give point to the humor. Xature had cer- 
tainly tried to make amends for her frowns by giving 
me facial power, — the power to smile away dull care. 
There is a niche in life for everyone, a place where 
one belongs. Society is like a pack of cards. Some 
members of it are kings and others are knaves, w'hile 
I, — I discovered that I was the little joker." 

Mr. Wilder is a bubbling fountain of wit, whose 
whimsicalities are no less entertaining to himself than 
to his hearers. As he quaintly expresses it, they are 
"ripples from the ocean of my moods which have 
touched the shore of my life." His disposition is so 
cheery that children and dogs come to him instantly. 
Eugene Field has the came trait. 

HOW HE TOOK JOSEPH JEFFERSOx's LIFE. 

His first appearance on any stage was made in "Rip 
Van Winkle," when he was a boy. Joseph Jefferson 
carried him on his back as a dwarf. The great *'Rip" 
has remained his steadfast friend ever since. Only a 
few years ago, Wilder left New York to fulfil a church 
entertainment engagement in Utica. He got there at 
three in the afternoon. Mr. Jefferson's private car 
was on the track, containing himself, William J. 
Florence, Airs. John Drew, A^iola Allen, and Otis 

374 



Prince of Entertainers 

Skinner. They hailed him instantly and induced l:ini 
to pass the afternoon in the car and to take dinner with 
them. His church engagement was over at half past 
eight, and at Mr. Jefferson's invitation he occupied a 
box at the opera house. The house happened to be a 
small one, while the church had been crowded to the 
doors. After the theater, the Jefferson party again 
entertained the humorist in the car, keeping him until 
his train left, half an hour after midnight. As Mr. 
Wilder w^as leaving, ]SIr. Jefferson pretended to get 
very angry and said : 'What do you think, my friends ? 
Here we have entertained this ungrateful young scamp 
all the afternoon, and invited him to dinner. Then he 
goes up to town and plays to a big audience, leaving 
me only a very poor house. Then he comes down here, 
partakes of our hospitality again, and before leaving 
takes my life!" Suiting the action to the word, Mr. 
Jefferson handed the young man a copy of his "Life 
and Recollections." 

His first attempt at wit was at a little church in 
New York, where he was one of the audience. A 
tableau was being given of "Mary, Queen of Scots," 
and in order to make it realistic they had obtained a 
genuine butcher's block and a cleaver. As the execu- 
tioner stood by, the lights all turned low, and his dread- 
ful work in progress, a shrill voice arose from the 
darkened house: — 

"Save me a spare-rib." 

His readiness in an emergency was shown at Flint. 

375 



Marshall P. Wilder 

Michigan, when he was before an unresponsive au- 
dience. As luck would have it, the gas suddenly went 
out. 

"Never mind the gas," he called to the stage man- 
ager. They can see the points just as well in the 
dark. After that he was en rapport. 

The greatest gift God ever made to man, he admitted 
to me in strict confidence, is the ability to laugh and to 
make his fellowmen laugh. This more than compen- 
sates, he adds, for the reception he gets from some of 
the cold audiences in New Jersey. 

I asked him what was the funniest experience he 
had ever had. 

"In a lodge room one night with Nat Goodwin," he 
replied. "It was, or ought to have been, a solemn oc- 
casion, but there was a German present who couldn't 
repeat the obligation backward. Nat stuffed his hand- 
kerchief into his mouth. I bit my lip trying to keep 
from laughing. I knew what an awful breach of de- 
corum it would be if we ever gave way to our feelings. 
We had almost gained perfect control of ourselves, 
and the beautiful and impressive ceremony was half 
over, when that confounded Dutchman was asked once 
more to repeat the oath backward. He made such 
work of it that I yelled right out, while Nat had a 
spasm and rolled on the floor. Did they put us out? 
Well, I guess they did. It took seven or eight apol- 
ogies to get us back into that lodge." 

Equally funny was his experience in London. It 

3/6 



Prince of Entertainers 

was on the occasion of the visit of the Ancient and 
Honorable Artillery, of Boston. A big dinner was to 
be given, and the American ambassador and the Prince 
of Wales were to be there. I asked Wilder to tell me 
the story of his visit. 

"I received an invitation," he began, "through my 
friend, B. F. Keith, who was a member of the Ancient 
and Honorable Artillery, and who happened to be in 
London. The uniforms were something gorgeous. 
The members stood in two long lines, awaiting the 
coming of the prince, who is always punctual. I was 
dressed in my usual boy-size clothes, a small American 
flag stuck in my Tuxedo coat. I walked around rest- 
lessly. The major-domo was a very grand personage, 
with a bearskin hat on one end and long boots on the 
other. He must have been eight or ten feet high. He 
chased me to the rear of the room several times, — evi- 
dently not knowing who I was, — but every time he 
turned his back I would bob out again, sometimes 
between his legs. The prince came, and almost the first 
thing he did was to walk across the floor to me and say : 
'Hullo, little chap. I am very glad to see you.' I had 
met him before. Then Henry Irving bore down on me 
and shook my hand, and so did Mr. Depew and others. 
By this time the major-domo had shrunk in size. 

"Who the Dickens is that little chap, anyway?" he 
asked. 

" 'Sh ! He belongs to the American army,' was the 

377 



Marshall P. Wilder 

answer. 'He's a great marshal or something over 
there !' " 

Wilder is big-hearted. "The biggest fee I ever re- 
ceived," he stated in reply to my inquiry, "was the 
satisfaction I saw depicted on a poor man's face. It 
was on a railway train. A life-prisoner was being 
taken, after a long man-hunt in Europe and America, 
out to Kansas City. I never saw so dejected a face. I 
devoted four or five hours to brightening him up, and 
when I left he was smiling all over. I had succeeded 
in making him forget his misery for at least four 
hours !" 

A wealthy gentleman of New York pays Mr. Wilder 
a stated sum every year to "cheer up" the inmates of 
hospitals and similar institutions. 



378 



XXXVIII 

Energy and Earnestness Win an 
Actor Fame. 

^^^^ T"HO will play the part?" asked A. M. 

Wm/ Palmer, anxiously, looking over the 

' ' members of his "Parisian Romance" 

company one night when the actor who 

had been playing ' Baron Cheval ' failed to appear. 

"I will," spoke up an obscure young player, a serious, 
earnest man who had been "utility" for the company 
only a short time. 

It was Richard Mansfield, and the part was given 
him. It had not been a conspicuous part up to that 
hour, but that night Mr. Mansfield made it a leading 
one. He saw^ in it opportunities for a deeper dramatic 
portrayal, for an expression of intense earnestness, and 
for that finished acting which ennobles any part in a 
play, however humble. Before the performance was 
over, he had opened the eyes of the company and the 
public to the fact that a new actor of great talent had 
come to the front at a bound. 

In his beautiful home in New York, the other day, I 
found him surrounded by the evidences of wealth and 
artistic taste, 

379 



Richard Mansfield 

"So you represent Success,' he exclaimed. "Well, 
I am pleased to have you call. Success pays few calls. 
you know. Ordinarily, we have to pursue it and make 
great efforts to keep it from eluding us." 

Mr. Mansfield made this remark with a quizzical, yet 
half-tired smile, as if he had himself found the chase 
exhausting, 

HOW TO FIND SUCCESS. 

"Yes," he went on. "success is a most fleet-footed — 
almost a phantom — goddess. You pursue her eagerly 
and seem to grasp her, and then you see her speeding 
on in front again. This is, of course, because one is 
rarely satisfied with present success. There is always 
something yet to be attained. To speak personally, I 
never worked harder in my life than I am working now. 
If I should relax, I fear that the structure which I have 
built up would come tumbling about my ears. It is my 
desire to advance my standard every year, — to plant it 
higher up on the hill, and to never yield a foot of 
ground. This requires constant efl'ort. I find my re- 
ward, not in financial returns, f(ir th.csc are hardlv com- 
mensurate with the outlay of labor ; nor in the applause 
of others, for this is not always discriminative or judic- 
ious ; but in the practice of my art. This suggests what, 
it seems to me, is the true secret of success. 

"Love your work ; then you will do it well. It is its 
own reward, though it brings others. If a young man 
would rather be an actor than anything else, and he 

380 



Comedian 

knows what he is about, let him, Ijy all means, he an 
actor. He will probably become a good one. It is the 
same, of course, in many occupations. If you like your 
work, hold on to it, and eventually you are likely to win. 
If you don't like it, you can't be too quick in getting 
into something that suits you better." 

HE BEGAN AS A DRV GOODS CLERK. 

"I began as a dry goods clerk in Boston, and was a 
very mediocre clerk. Afterward I became a painter in 
London, and was starving at that. Finally, like water, 
r found my level in dramatic art." 

The thing about Mr. Mansfield which most inspires 
those who come in contact with him is his wonderful 
store of nervous energy. It communicates itself to 
others and makes them keen for work. 

"I cannot talk with him five minutes," said his busi- 
ness representative, "before I want to grab my hat and 
'hustle' out and do about three days' work without stop- 
ping. For persons who have not, or cannot absorb, 
some of his own electric spirit, he has little use. He is 
a living embodiment of contagious energy." 

His performances before audiences constitute a com- 
paratively small portion of his work. It is in his elabor- 
ate and painstaking preparation that the labor is in- 
volved, and it is to this — to the minute preliminary care 
that he gives to every detail of a production, — that his 
fine efifects and achievements before the footlights are. 
in considerable measure, due. 

381 



Richard Manshek 



HE GIVES INFINITE ATTENTION TO DETAIL. 

The rehearsals are a vital part of the preparatory 
work, and to them Mr. Mansfield has devoted a great 
deal of time. For weeks, between the hours of eleven 
in the morning and four in the afternoon, he remains 
on the stage with his company, seated in a line four or 
five deep on either side of him, like boys and girls at 
school, deeply engrossed in impressing upon the minds 
of individual members of the company his own ideas of 
the interpretation and presentation of the various parts. 
Again and again, until one would think he himself 
would become utterly weary of the repetition, he would 
have an actor repeat a sentence. Not until it is exactly 
right is Mr. Mansfield satisfied. Nothing escapes his 
scrutiny. At dress rehearsals he may see, to mention a 
typical case, a tall man and a small one of no special im- 
portance in the play standing together, and the tall one 
may be made up to have a sallow complexion and 
beard. Mr. Mansfield glances at them quickly. Some- 
thing is wrong. He hastens up to the smaller one and 
suggests that, for the sake of contrast, he make himself 
up to look stout and to have a smooth face. The im- 
provement is quite noticeable. Mr. Mansfield carefully 
notes the efifect of light and shadow on the scenery ; and 
sometimes, at the last moment, will seize the brush and 
add, here and there, a heightening or a softening touch. 

An incident of his early youth will tend to illustrate 
his spirit of self-reliance. His mother was an eminent' 



382 



Comedian 

singer who frequently appeared before royal families in 
Europe, and usually had little Richard with her. On 
one occasion, after her own performance before royalty 
in Germany, the little Crown Prince, who was about the 
same age as Richard, and an accomplished boy, played 
a selection on the piano, and played it well. When he 
had left the piano, the company was very much sur- 
prised to see Master Richard Mansfield take his place, 
without an invitation, and play the same music, but in a 
considerably better manner than had the Crown Prince. 
\Mien the boy had become a youth, he was compelled to 
support himself; and, having come to this country, he 
obtained a position as a clerk in the Jordan & Marsh 
establishment in Boston. Meanwhile, he was devoting 
all his spare time to studying painting. He afterward 
tried to make a living at it in London, and failed. He 
was finally given an opportunity as a comedian in 
"Pinafore." He had the small part of Joseph. It was 
but a short time afterward when he entered the employ 
of Mr. Palmer and got the chance of his lifetime. 



383 



XXXIX 

A Father's Common Sense Gives 
America a Great Bandmaster. 

KIPLING essayed to write verses at thirteen, and 
John PhiHp Sotisa entered liis apprenticeship 
in a military band at the age of twelve. The 
circumstances, which he related to me during 
a recent conversation, make it clear, however, that it 
was not exactly the realization of any youthful ambi- 
tion. "When I was a youngster of twelve," said the 
bandmaster, "I could play the violin fairly well. It was 
in this memorable year that a circus came to Washing- 
ton, D. C, where I then lived, and remained for two 
days. During the morning of the first day, one of the 
showmen passed the house and heard me playing. He 
rang the bell, and when I answered it, asked if I would 
not like to join the show. I was at the age when it is 
the height of every boy's ambition to join a circus, and 
was so delighted that I readily agreed to his instruc- 
tions that I was to take my violin, and, without telling 
anyone, go quietlv to the show grounds late the next 
evening. 

"I couldn't, however, keep this stroke of good fortune 
entirelv to mvself, so I confided it to my chum, who 

384 



The "March King"" 

lived next door. The effect was entirely unanticipated. 
He straightway became so jealous at the thought that I 
would have an opportunity to witness the circus per- 
formance free that he told his mother, and that good 
woman promptly laid the whole matter before my 
father." 

IN THE MARINE BAND. 

"At the time I was, of course, ignorant of this turn of 
affairs ; but early the next morning my father, without 
a word of explanation, told me to put on my best 
clothes, and, without ceremony, bundled me down to the 
office of the Marine Band, where he entered me as an 
apprentice. The age limit at which admission could be 
gained to the band corps was fourteen years, and I have 
always retained the two years which my father uncere- 
moniously added to my age at that time." 

Sousa is of Spanish descent, his father having emi- 
grated from Spain to Portugal by reason of political 
entanglements. Thence came the strange fact that, 
during the recent war, American troops marched for- 
ward to attack Spaniards to the music of marches writ- 
ten by this descendant of their race. The director's 
remark that his family was one of the oldest in Spain 
was supplementary to an amused denial of that pretty 
story which has been so wadely circulated to the effect 
that the bandmaster's name was originally John 
Philipso, and that when, after entering the Marine 
Band, he signed it with the "U. S. A." appended, some 
intelligent clerk divided it into John Philip Sousa. 

385 



John Philip Sousa 

HIS FIRST SUCCESSFUL WORK. 

In discussing his opera, "El Capitan," which, when 
produced by De Wolf Hopper several seasons ago, 
achieved such instantaneous success, the composer re- 
marked that it was the sixth opera he had written, the 
others never reaching the dignity of a production. 

As Sousa is preeminently a man of action, so his 
career and characteristics are best outUned by incidents. 
One in connection with his operatic composition strik- 
ingly illustrates his pluck and determination. Before 
he attained any great degree of prominence in the musi- 
cal world, Sousa submitted an opera to Francis Wilson, 
ofifering to sell it outright for one thousand five hundred 
dollars. Wilson liked the opera, but the composer was 
not fortified by a great name, so he declined to pay more 
than one thousand dollars for the piece. The composer 
replied that he had spent the best part of a year on the 
work, and felt that he could not take less than his origi- 
nal demand. Wilson was obdurate, and Sousa ruefully 
put the manuscript back into his portfolio. 

Some time afterward a march which the bandmaster 
sent to a well-known publishing house caught the public 
favor. The publishers demanded another at once. The 
composer had none at hand, but suddenly thought of 
the march in his discarded opera, and forwarded it 
without waiting to select a name. 

While he was pondering thoughtfully on the subject 
of a title, Sousa and a friend one evening went to the 

386 



The "March King" 

Auditorium in Chicago, where "America'" was then 
being presented. When the mammoth drop curtain, 
with the painted representation of the Liberty Bell was 
lowered, the bandmaster's companion said, with the 
suddenness of an inspiration : "There is a name for 
your new march." That night it was sent on to the 
publishers. 

Up to date, this one selection from the opera for 
which Francis Wilson refused to pay fifteen hundred 
dollars has netted its composer thirty-five thousand 
dollars. 

A MAN WHO NEVER RESTS. 

Sousa has practically no vacations. Throughout the 
greater part of the autumn, winter and spring, his band 
is en tour through this country and Canada, giving, as 
a rule, two concerts each day, usually in different towns. 
During the summer, his time is occupied with daily 
concerts at Manhattan Beach, near Xew York. De- 
spite all this, he finds time to write several marches or 
other musical selections each year, and for several years 
past has averaged each year an operatic production. 
Any person who is at all conversant with the subject 
knows that the composition of the opera itself is onl} 
the beginning of the composer's labor, and Sousa has 
invariably directed the rehearsals with all the thorough- 
ness and attention to detail that might be expected from 
a less busy man. 

The bandmaster is a late riser, and in that, as in other 
details, the routine of his daily life is the embodiment of 

387 



John Philip Sousa 

regularity and punctuality, in reply to my question as 
to what produces his never-failing good health, he said : 
"Absolute regularity of life, plenty of sleep, and good, 
plain, substantial food." 

His idea of the most valuable aids, if not essentials to 
success, may be imagined. They are "'persistence and 
hard work." The "March King" believes that it is only 
worry, and not hard work, that kills people, and he also 
has confidence that if there be no literal truth in the 
assertion that genius is simply another name for hard 
work, there is at least much of wisdom in the saying. 

Many persons who have seen Sousa direct his organi- 
zation make the assertion that the orders conveyed by 
his baton are non-essential, — that the band would be 
equally well-off without Sousa. This never received a 
fuller refutation than during a recent concert in an 
eastern city. .Two small boys in seats near the front 
of the hall were tittering, but so quietly that it would 
hardly seem possible that it could be noticed on the 
stage, especially by the bandmaster, whose back was, of 
course, toward the audience. Suddenly, in the middle 
of a bar, his baton fell. Instantly, every sound ceased, 
not a note having been sounded after the signal, which 
could not have been anticipated, was given. Wheeling 
quickly, the leader ordered the troublesome youngsters 
to leave the hall, and almost before the audience had 
realized what had happened, the great organization had 
resumed the rendition of the selection, without the loss 
of a chord. 

388 



The •' March King "' 



HOW SOUSA WORKS. 



In answer to my inquiry as to his methods of work, 
the director of America's foremost band said : — 

■'I think that any musical composer m^ust essentially 
find his periods of work governed largely by inspira- 
tion. A march or a waltz depends perhaps upon some 
strain that has sufficient melody to carry the entire com- 
position, and it is the waiting to catch this embryo note 
that is sometimes long. 

"Take my experience with ' The Stars and Stripes 
Forever.' I worked for weeks on the strain that I think 
will impress most persons as the prettiest in the march. 
I carried it in my mind all that time, but I could not get 
the idea transferred to paper just as I wanted. When 
I did accomplish it, there was comparatively little delav 
with the remainder." 

When I asked him about his future work. Mr. Sousa 
said : — 

'T of course have commissions to write several 
operas, and I am at work on a musical composition 
which I hope to make the best thing that I have ever 
attempted." 

His temperament is well illustrated by an incident on 
a western railroad. The Sousa organization, which 
had been playing in one of the larger cities, desired to 
reach a small town in time for a matinee performance, 
but, owing to the narrow policy of the railway officials, 

389 



John Philip Sousa 

the bandmaster was obliged to engage a special train, at 
a cost of $175. 

In the railway yard stood the private coach of the 
president of the system, and just before the Sousa train 
pulled out, the discovery was made that the regular 
train, to which it had been intended to attach the presi- 
dent's car, was three hours late. A request was made 
of the bandmaster that he allow the car to be attached 
(jperas, and I am at work on a musical composition 
which every person who has seen him must have no- 
ticed, simply smiled, and. with the most extravagant 
politeness, replied : "lam sorry, gentlemen, but, having 
chartered this train for my especial use, I am afraid I 
shall have to limit its use to that purpose." 



390 



XL 

Blind, Deaf, and Dumb, Patient Ef- 
fort Wins for Her Culture and 
Rare Womanhood. 



^4 



I 



A]\I trying to prove that the sum of the areas 
of two similar polygons, constructed on the 
two legs of a right triangle, is equal to the 
area of a similar polygon constructed on the 
hypotenuse. It is a very difficult demonstration," she 
added, and her expressive face, on which every passing 
emotion is plainly written, looked serious for a moment, 
as she laid her hand upon the work about which I had 
asked. 

Helen Keller, the deaf and blind girl, whose intellec- 
tual attainments have excited the wonder and admira- 
tion of our most prominent educators, is well known to 
all readers, but Helen Keller, the blithesome, rosy- 
cheeked, light-hearted maiden of nineteen, whose smile 
is a benediction, and whose ringing laugh is fresh and 
joyous as that of a child, is not, perhaps, so familiar. 

HELEN KELLER AT HOME. 

By kind permission of her teacher, Miss Sullivan. I 
was granted the privilege of an interview with Miss 



Helea Keller 

Keller at her residence on Newbury street, Boston, 
where she was busily at work preparing for the en- 
trance examinations to Radcliffe College. 

After a cordial greeting. Miss Sullivan, whose gra- 
cious, kindly manner makes the visitor feel perfectly at 
home, introduced me to her pupil. Seated on a low 
rocking-chair, in a large, sunny bay-window, the young 
girl, fresh as the morning, in her dainty pink shirt-waist 
over a dress of plain, dark material, with the sunshine 
glinting through her waving brown hair, and kissing 
her broad white forehead and pink cheeks, made a pic- 
ture which one will not willingly forget. On her lap 
was a small red cushion, to which wires, representing 
the geometrical figures included in the problem on 
which she was engaged, were fastened. Laying this 
aside at a touch from Miss Sullivan, she arose, and, 
stretching out her hand, pronounced my name softly, 
with a peculiar intonation, which at first makes it a little 
difficult to understand her words, but to which the 
listener soon becomes accustomed. Of course, her 
teacher acted as an interpreter during our conversation, 
though much of what Helen says is perfectly intelligible 
even to the untrained ear. 

"Yes," she said, "it is a very difficult problem, but I 
have a little light on it now." 

HER AMBITION. 

"What will your ambition be when your college 
course is completed?'" I asked. 



Student and Writer 

"I think I should hke to write, — for chiklren. I tell 
stories to my little friends a great deal of the time now, 
but they are not original, — not yet. Most of them are 
translations from the Greek, and I think no one can 
write anything prettier for the young. Charles Kings- 
ley has written some equally good things, like 'Water 
Babies,' for instance. 'Alice in Wonderland' is a fine 
story, too, but none of them can surpass the Greek 
tales." 

Many of our advanced thinkers are fond of advanc- 
ing the theory that the medium of communication in 
the future will not be spoken words, but the more subtle 
and genuine, if mute, language of the face, the eyes, the 
whole body. Sarah Bernhardt forcibly illustrates the 
effectiveness of this method, for even those who do not 
understand a word of French derive nearly as much 
pleasure from the great actress's performances as those 
who are thoroughly familiar wnth the language. Helen 
Keller's dramatic power of expression is equally telling. 

She is enthusiastic in her admiration of everything 
Greek. The language, the literature, the arts, the his- 
tory of the classic land fascinate and enthrall her 
imagination. 

"Oh, yes," she exclaimed, eagerly, in answer to my 
query if she expected to go to Greece sometime, "it is 
one of my air castles. Ever since T was as tall as that," 
(she held her hand a short distance from the floor) "I 
have dreamed about it." 

393 



Helen Keller 

"Do you believe the dream will some day become a 
reality?" 

"I hope so, but I dare not be too sure," — and the 
sober words of wisdom that followed sounded oddly 
enough on the girhsh lips, — "the world is full of disap- 
pointments and vicissitudes, and I have to be a little 
conservative." 

"Which of your studies interest you most?" 

"Latin and Greek. I am reading now Virgil's 
'Eclogues,' Cicero's 'Orations,' Homer's 'Iliad' and 
'Odyssey,' " she said, and ran rapidly over a list of 
classic books which she likes. 

Her readiness to perceive a joke and her quickness to 
detect the least carelessness in language are distinguish- 
ing traits, which she illustrated even during our brief 
conversation. Commenting on her love of everything 
pertaining to Greece, I remarked that a believer in the 
doctrine of metempsychosis might imagine that she pos- 
sessed the soul of an old Greek. Instantly she noticed 
the little slip, and, laughing gayly, cried : "Oh, no, not 
the soul of an old Greek, the soul of a young Greek." 

Helen's merriment was infectious, and we all joined 
lieartily in the laugh, Miss Sullivan saying, "She caught 
you there," as I was endeavoring to explain that, of 
course, I meant the soul of an ancient Greek. 

While taking so deep an interest in matters intellec- 
tual, and living in a world of her own, penetrated by no 
outward sight or sound, Miss Keller's tastes are as nor- 
mal as those of any girl of nineteen. She is full of 

394 



Student and Writer 

animal spirit, dearly loves a practical joke, is fond of 
dancing, enjoys outside exercise and sport, and has the 
natural desire of every healthy young maiden to wear 
pretty things and look her best. 

In answer to a question on this latter subject, she 
said : — 

"I used to be very fond of dress, but now I am not 
particularly so ; it is such a bother. We ought to like 
dress, though, and wear pretty things, just as the 
flowers put on beautiful colors. It would be fine," she 
continued, laughing gleefully, "if we were made with 
feathers and wings, like the birds. Then we would 
have no trouble about dress, and we could fly where we 
pleased." 

"You would fly to Greece, first, I suppose?" 

"No," she replied, and her laughing face took on a 
tender, wistful look. "I should go home first, to see my. 
loved ones." 

HEREDITY AND CHILDHOOD. 

Miss Keller's home is at Tuscumbia, Alabama, where 
she was born on June 27, 1880. Some of the best blood 
of both the north and the south flows in her veins, and 
it is probable that her uncommon mental powers are in 
no small degree due to heredity. Her father, Arthur H. 
Keller, a polished southern gentleman, with a large, 
chivalrous nature, fine intelligence and attractive man- 
ners, was the descendant of a family of Swiss origin, 
which had settled in Virgmia and mixed with some of 
the oldest families in that state. He served as a cap- 

395 



Helen Keller 

tain in the Confederate army during the Civil War, and, 
at the time of Helen's birth, was the owner and editor 
of a paper published at Tuscumbia. On the maternal 
side she is descended from one of the Adams families 
of Massachusetts, and the same stock of Everetts from 
which Edward Everett and Reverend Edward Everett 
Hale sprang. 

Helen Keller was not born deaf and blind, although, 
at the age of eighteen months, when a violent fit of 
convulsions deprived her of the faculties of seeing and 
hearing, she had not attempted to speak. When a child, 
she was as notable for her stubbornness and resistance 
to authority as she is to-day for her gentleness and 
amiability. Indeed, it was owing to an exhibition of 
what seemed a very mischievous spirit that her parents 
sought a special instructor for her. Having discovered 
the use of a key, she locked her mother into a pantry in 
a distant part of the house, where, her hammering on 
the door not being heard by the servants, she remained 
imprisoned for several hours. Helen, seated on the 
floor outside, felt the knocking on the door, and seemed 
to be enjoying the situation intensely when at length 
jailer and prisoner were found. She was then about 
six years old, and, after this escapade, Mr. and Mrs. 
Keller felt that the child's moral nature must be reached 
and her mental powers cultivated, if possible. 

Helen's first teacher. 

On the recommendation of Dr. Alexander Graham 

39^ 



Student and Writer 

Bell, inventor of the telephone, Michael Anagnos, direc- 
tor of the Perkins Institute for the Blind at South Bos- 
ton, sent Miss Annie Mansfield Sullivan to Tuscumbia 
to undertake the difficult task of piercing the veil behind 
which the intelligence of the little girl lay sleeping. 
How well this noble and devoted teacher has succeeded 
in her work is amply evidenced by the brilliancy and 
thoroughness of her pupil's attainments. 

Miss Sullivan's method of instruction was similar to 
that adopted by Dr. Samuel G. Howe in teaching Laura 
Bridgman. She used the manual alphabet, and cards 
bearing, in raised letters, the names of objects. At first, 
the pupil violently resisted the teacher's efforts to in- 
struct her, and so determined was her opposition, Miss 
Sullivan declares, that, if she had not exercised physical 
force and a determination even more strenuous than 
iliat of her refractory pupil, she would never have suc- 
ceeded in teaching her anything. Night and day she 
was at her side, watching for the first gleam of con- 
scious mind ; and at length, after seven weeks of what 
she says was the hardest work she had ever done, the 
faithful teacher received her reward in the sudden 
dawning of the child's intelligence. All at once, the 
light seem.ed to burst in upon her wondering soul ; she 
understood then that the raised letters which she felt 
on the cards and the groups of manual signs on her 
hands, represented words, or the names of familiar 
objects. The delight of the pupil and teacher was un- 
bounded, and from that moment Helen's education, 

397 



Helen Keller 

though still demanding the greatest patience and loving 
care on the part of her teacher, was a comparative!} 
easy matter. 

With the awakening of her intellectual faculties, she 
seemed literally to have been "born again." The stub- 
born, headstrong, self-W'illed, almost unmanageable 
child became patient, gentle and obedient ; and, instead 
of resisting instruction, her eagerness to learn w^as so 
great that it had to be restrained. So rapid was her 
progress that, in a few weeks, anyone who knev/ the 
manual alphabet could easily communicate with her, 
and in July, 1887, less than a year from the time Miss 
Sullivan first saw her, she could write an intelligent 
letter. 

PREPARING FOR COLLEGE. 

In September, 1896, accompanied by her teacher, 
Miss Keller entered the Cambridge School for Girls, to 
prepare for Radchffe College, and in June, 1897, passed 
the examinations of the first preparatory year success- 
fully in every subject, taking "honors" in English and 
German. The director of the school, Arthur Gilman, 
in an article in "American Annals of the Deaf," says : 
"I think that I may say that no candidate in Harvard 
or Radclifife College was graduated higher than Helen 
in English. The result is remarkable, especially when 
we consider that she had been studying on strictly col- 
lege preparatory lines for one year only. She had, it is 
true, long and careful instruction, and she has had 

398 



Student and Writer 

always the loving ministration of Miss Sullivan, in 
addition to the inestimable advantage of a concentra- 
tion that the rest of us never know. No other, man or 
woman," he adds, "has ever, in my experience, got 
ready for those examinations in so brief a time." 

Air. Oilman, in the same article, pays the following- 
well-deserved tribute to Miss Sullivan, whose work is 
as worthy of admiration as that of her pupil : — 

"Miss Sullivan sat at Helen's side in the classes (in 
the Cambridge School), interpreting to her, with infi- 
nite patience, the instruction of every teacher. In study 
hours, j\Iiss Sullivan's labors were even more arduous, 
for she was obliged to read everything that Helen had 
to learn, excepting what was prepared in Braille ; she 
searched the lexicons and encyclopedias, and gave 
Helen the benefit of it all. When Helen went home. 
Miss Sullivan went with her, and it was hers to satisfy 
the busy, unintermitting demands of the intensely active 
brain ; for, although others gladly helped, there were 
many matters which could be treated only by the one 
teacher who had awakened the activity and had fol- 
lowed its development from the first. Now, it was a 
German grammar which had to be read, now a Frencli 
story, and then some passage from 'Caesar's Commen- 
taries.' It looked like drudgery, and drudgery it would 
certainly have been had not love shed its benign influ- 
ence over all, lightening each step and turning hardship 
into pleasure." 

Miss Keller is verv patriotic, but large and liberal in 

399 



Helen Keller 

her ideas, which soar far beyond all narrow, partisan or 
political prejudices. Her sympathies are with the 
masses, the burden-bearers, and, like all friends of the 
people and of universal progress, she was intensely 
interested in the Peace Congress. 

Speaking on the subject, she said: "I hope the 
nations will carry out the project of disarmament. I 
w^onder which nation will be brave enough to lay down 
its arms first!" 

"Don't you hope it will be America?" 

"Yes, I hope so, but I do not think it will. We arc- 
only just beginning to fight now," she went on, sagel}-. 
"and I am afraid we like it. I think it will be one of 
the old, experienced nations, that has had enough of 

^^'^^' HER IDEAL OF A SUCCESSFUL CAREER. 

I asked Miss Keller what she considers most essential 
to a successful career. 

She thought a moment, and then replied, slowly, 
"Patience, perseverance and fidelity." 

"And what do you look upon as the most desirable 
thing in life ?" 

"Friends," w^as the prompt reply to this broad general 
question ; and, as she uttered the word, she nestlerl 
closely to the friend who has so long been all in all 
to her. 

"What about material possessions ?" I asked ; "for 
instance, which would you place first, — wealth or edu- 
cation?" 

400 



Student and Writer 

"Education. A good education is a stepping-stone 
to wealth. But that does not imply that I want wealth. 
It is such a care. It would be worse than dressing. 
'Give me neither poverty nor riches, but give me con- 
tentment,' " she quoted, with a smile. 

The future of this most interesting girl will be fol- 
lowed with closest attention by educators, psychologists, 
and the public generally. There is little doubt that the 
time and care spent on her education will be amply 
justified ; and that she will personally illustrate her own 
ideal of a successful career, — "To live nobly ; to be true 
to one's best aspirations," — is the belief of all who 
know her. 



401 



XLI 

Jay Gould's Chum Chooses ''High 
Thinking, not Money Making," 
and Wins Success Without Riches. 

WHEN I visited the hill-top retreat of John 
Burroughs, the distinguished lover of na- 
ture, at West Park, New York, it was wit'- 
the feeling that all success is not material ; 
that mere dollars are nothing, and that the influential 
man is the successful man, whether he be rich or poor. 
John Burroughs is unquestionably both influential and 
poor. On the wooden porch of his little bark-covered 
cabin I waited, one June afternoon, until he should 
come back from the woods and fields, where he had 
gone for a ramble. It was so still that the sound of 
my rocker moving to and fro on the rough boards of 
the little porch seemed to shock the perfect quiet. From 
afar off came the plaintive cry of a wood-dove, and 
then all was still again. Presently the interpreter of 
out-door life appeared in the distance, and, seeing a 
stranger at his door, hurried homeward. He was with- 
out coat or vest, and looked cool in his white outin.Q 
shirt and large straw hat. After some formalities of 

402 



The Pijet-Naturalist 

introduction, \vc reached the subject which 1 had caUed 
to discuss, and he said : — 

"It is not customary to interview men of my voca- 
tion concerning success," 

"Any one who has made a lasting impression on the 
minds of his contemporaries," I began, "and influenced 
men and women " 

"Do you refer to me?" he interrupted, naively. 

DIFFERENT WAYS OF BEING SUCCESSFUL. 

I nodded and he laughed. "I have not endowed a 
university nor made a fortune, nor conquered an enemy 
in battle," he said. 

"And those who have done such things have not writ- 
ten 'Locusts and Wild Honey' and 'Wake, Robin.' " 

"I recognize," he said, quietly, "that success is not 
always where people think it is. There are many ways 
of being successful, and I do not approve of the mis- 
take which causes many to consider that a great for- 
tune acquired means a great success achieved. On the 
contrary, our greatest men need very little money to 
accomplish the greatest work." 

"I thought that anyone leading a life so wholly at 
variance with the ordinary ideas and customs would 
see success in life from a different point of view," I ob- 
served. "Money is really no object with you?" 

"The subject of wealth never disturbs me." 

"You lead a very simple life here?" 

"Such as you see." 



John Burroughs 

The sight would impress anyone. So far is this dis- 
ciple of nature away from the ordinary mode of the 
world that his little cabin, set in the cup-shaped top of 
a hill, is practically bare of luxuries and the so-called 
comforts of life. His surroundings are of the rudest, 
the very rocks and bushes encroaching upon his back 
door. All about, the crest of the hill encircles him, 
and shuts out the world. Only the birds of the air ven- 
ture to invade his retreat from the various sides of the 
mountain, and there is only a straggling, narrow path, 
which branches off a dozen times before it takes the 
true direction. In his house are no decorations but 
such as can be hung upon the exposed wood. The fire- 
place is of brick, and quite wide ; the floor, rough 
boards scrubbed white ; the ceiling, a rough array of 
exposed rafters, and his bed a rudely constructed work 
of the hand. Very few and very simple chairs, a plain 
table and some shelves for books made the wealth of 
the retreat and serve for his ordinary use. 

"Many people think," I said, "that your method of 
living is an ideal example of the way people ought to 
live." 

"There is nothing remarkable in that. A great many 
people are very weary of the way they think them- 
selves compelled to live. They are mistaken in believ- 
ing that the disagreeable things they find themselves 
doing, are the things they ought to do. A great many 
take their idea of a proper aim in life from what other 
people say and do. Consequently, they are unhappy, 

404 



The Poet-Naturalist 

and an independent existence such as mine strikes them 
as ideal. As a matter of fact, it is very natural." 

A WORTHY AIM IN LIFE. 

"Would you say that to work so as to be able to live 
like this should be the aim of a young man?" 

"By no means. On the contrary, his aim should be 
to live in such a way as will give his mind the greatest 
freedom and peace. This can be very often obtained 
by wanting less of material things and more of intellec- 
tual ones. A man who achieved such an aim would 
be as well off as the most distinguished man in any 
field. Money-getting is half a mania, and some other 
' getting ' propensities are manias also. The m.an who 
gets content comes nearest to being reasonable." 

'T should like," I said, "to illustrate your point of 
view from the details of your own life." 

"Students of nature do not, as a rule, have eventful 
lives. I was born in Roxbury, New York, in 183?. 
That was a time when conditions were rather primitive. 
My father was a farmer, and I was raised among the 
woods and fields. I came from an uncultivated, un- 
reading class of society, and grew up amid surround- 
ings the least calculated to awaken the literary faculty. 
Yet I have no doubt that daily contact with the woods 
and fields awakened my interest in the wonders of 
nature, and gave me a bent toward investigation in that 
direction." 

405: 



John Burroughs 

"Did you begin early to make notes and write upon 
nature?" I questioned." 

"Not before I was sixteen or seventeen. Earlier than 
that, the art of composition had anything but charms 
for me. I remember that while at school, at the age of 
fourteen, I was required, like other students, to write 
' compositions ' at stated times, but I usually evaded the 
duty one way or another. On one occasion, I copied 
something from a comic almanac, and unblushingly 
handed it in as my own. But the teacher detected the 
fraud, and ordered me to produce a twelve-line com- 
position before I left school. I remember I racked my 
brain in vain, and the short winter day was almost 
closing when Jay Gould, who sat in the seat behind 
me, wrote twelve lines of doggerel on his slate and 
passed it slyly over to me. I had so little taste for writ- 
ing that I coolly copied that, and handed it in as my 
own." 

JAY GOULD WAS HIS CHUM. 

"You were friendly with Gould then ?" 

"Oh, yes ; 'chummy,' they call it now. His father's 
farm was only a little way from ours, and we were fast 
friends, going home together every night." 

"His view of life must have been considerably differ- 
ent from yO'urs." 

"It was. I always looked upon success as being a 
matter of mind, not money; but Jay wanted the mate- 
rial appearances. I remember that once we had a 
wrestling match, and as we were about even in 

406 . 



The Poet-Naturalist 

strength, we agreed to abide by certain rules, — taking 
what we called * holts ' in the beginning and not break- 
ing them until one or the other was thrown. I kept 
to this in the struggle, but when Jay realized that he 
was in danger of losing the contest, he broke the ' holt ' 
and threw me. When I remarked that he had broken 
his agreement, he only laughed and said, 'I threw you, 
didn't I?' And to every objection I made, he made the 
same answer. The fact of having won (it did not mat- 
ter how), was pleasing to him. It satisfied him, al- 
though it wouldn't have contented me." 

"Did you ever talk over success in life with him ?" 
"Yes ; quite often. He was bent on making money 
and did considerable trading among us schoolboys, — 
sold me some of his books. I felt then that my view 
of life was more satisfactory to me than his would have 
been. I wanted to obtain a competence, and then de- 
vote myself to high thinking instead of to money- 
making." 

"How did you plan to attain this end?" 

HE BEGAN WRITING AT SIXTEEN. 

"By study. I began in my sixteenth or seventeenth 
year to try to express myself on paper, and when, after 
I had left the country school, I attended the seminary 
at Ashland and at Cooperstown, I often received the 
highest marks in composition, though only standing 
about the average in general scholarship. My taste 
ran to essays, and I picked up the great works in that 

407 



John Burroughs 

field at a bookstore, from time to time, and filled my 
mind with the essay idea. I bought the whole of Dr. 
Johnson's works at a second-hand bookstore in New 
York, because, on looking into them, I found his essays 
appeared to be of solid literature, which I thought was 
just the thing. Almost my first literary attempts were 
moral reflections, somewhat in the Johnsonian style." 
"You were supporting yourself during these years?" 
"I taught six months and ' boarded round ' before I 
went to the seminary. That put fifty dollars into my 
pocket, and the fifty paid my way at the seminary. 
Working on the farm, studying and teaching filled up 
the years until 1863, when I went to Washington and 
found employment in the Treasury Department." 
"You were connected with the Treasury, then ?" 
"Oh, yes ; for nearly nine years. I left the depart- 
ment in 1872, to become receiver of a bank, and subse- 
quently for several years performed the work of a bank 
examiner. I considered it only as an opportunity to 
earn and save up a little money on which I could retire. 
I managed to do that, and came back to this region, 
where I bought a fruit farm. I worked that into a pay- 
ing condition, and then gave all my time to the pursuit 
of the studies I like." 

"Had you abandoned your interest in nature during 
your Washington life?" 

"No ; I gave as much time to the study of nature and 
literature as I had to spare. When I was twenty-three, 
I wrote an essay on 'Expression.' and sent it to the 

408 



The Poet-Naturalist 

'Atlantic' It was so Emersonian in style, owing to my 
enthusiasm for Emerson at that time, that the editor 
thought some one was tr)ing to palm off on him an 
early essay of Emerson's which he had not seen. He 
found that Emerson had not published any such paper, 
however, and printed it, though it had not much merit. 
1 wTOte off and on for the magazines." 

The editor in question was James Russell Lowell, 
who, instead of considering it without merit, often ex- 
pressed afterward the delight with which he read this 
contribution from an unknown hand, and the swift im- 
pression of the author's future distinction which came 
to him with that reading. 

WHAT NATURE STUDY REALLY MEANS. 

"Your successful work, then, has been in what direc- 
tion?" I said. 

"In studying nature. It has all come by living close 
to the plants and animals of the woods and fields, and 
coming to understand them. There I have been suc- 
cessful. Men who, like myself, are deficient in self- 
assertion, or whose personalities are flexible and yield- 
ing, make a poor show in business, but in certain other 
fields these defects become advantages. Certainly it is 
so in my case. I can succeed with bird or beast, for I 
have cultivated my ability in that direction. I can look 
in the eye of an ugly dog or cow and win, but with an 
ugly man I have less success. 

"I consider the desire which most individuals have 

409 



John Burroughs 

for the kuxuries which money can buy, an error of 
mind," he added. "Those things do not mean anything 
except a lack of higher tastes. Such wants are not 
necessary wants, nor honorable wants. If you cannot 
get wealth with a noble purpose, it is better to abandon 
it and get something else. Peace of mind is one of the 
best things to seek, and finer tastes and feelings. The 
man who gets these, and maintains himself comfortably, 
is much more admirable and successful than the man 
who gets money and neglects these. The realm of 
power has no fascination for me. I would rather have 
my seclusion and peace of mind. This log hut, with its 
bare floors, is sufficient. I am set down among the 
beauties of nature, and in no danger of losing the riches 
that are scattered all about. No one will take my walks 
or my brook away from me. The flowers, birds and 
animals are plentifully provided. I have enough to eat 
and wear, and time to see how beautiful the world is, 
and to enjoy it. The entire world is after your money, 
or the things you have bought with your money. It is 
trying to keep them that makes them seem so precious. 
I live to broaden and enjoy my own life, believing that 
in so doing I do what is best for everyone. If I ran 
after birds only to write about them, I should never 
have written anything that anyone else would have 
cared to read. I must write from sympathy and love, — 
that is, from enjoyment, — or not at all. I come gradu- 
ally to have a feeling that I want to write upon a given 
theme. Whenever the subject recurs to me, it awakens 

410 



The Poet-Naturalist 

a warm, personal response. My confidence that I ought 
to write comes from the feeling or attraction which 
some subjects exercise over me. The work is pleasure, 
and the result gives pleasure." 

''And your work as a naturalist is what?" 

"Climbing trees to study birds, lying by the water- 
side to watch the fishes, sitting still in the grass for 
hours to study the insects, and tramping here and there, 
always to observe and study whatever is common to the 
woods and fields." 

"Men think you have done a great work," I said. 

'T have done a pleasant work," he said, modestly. 

"And the achievements of your schoolmate Gould do 
not appeal to you as having anything in them worth 
aiming for ?" I questioned. 

"Not for me. I think my life is better for having 
escaped such vast and diffcult interests." 

The gentle, light-hearted naturalist and recluse came 
down the long hillside with me, "to put me right" on 
the main road. I watched him as he retraced his steps 
up the steep, dark path, lantern in hand. His sixty 
years sat lightly upon him, and as he ascended I heard 
him singing. Long after the light melody had died 
away, I saw the serene little light bobbing up and down 
in his hand, disappearing and reappearing, as the lone 
philosopher repaired to his hut and his couch of content. 

WHY HE IS RICH WITHOUT MONEY. 

Tt must not be inferred that Mr. Burroughs has no 
money. As an author, he has given us such delightful 



41 



John Burroughs 

Ijooks, dear to every lover of nature, as "Wake, Robin," 
"Winter Sunshine," "Locusts and Wild Honey," 
"Fresh Fields," "Indoor Studies," "Birds and Poets," 
"Pepacton," "Signs and Seasons," "Riverby," "Whit- 
man," and "The Light of Day," published by Hough- 
ton, Mifflin & Company. 

His writings produce goodly sums, while his vine- 
yards and gardens produce as much as he needs; but 
the charm of it all is, he knows not the unrest of eagerly 
seeking it. His is one of the very infrequent instances 
in which a man knows when he has enough, and really 
and truthfully does not care for more. Nor is he a 
"hayseed" in the popular application of that expressive 
term. When he goes to the city, as he occasionally 
does (just to reassure himself that he prefers life in 
the country ) , he is not met at the station by gentlemen 
in loud checked suits ; he carries no air of the rustic 
with him. As an Irish wit recently put it, "When in 
Paris, he does as the parasites do," and he conducts 
himself and clothes himself as a well regulated citizen 
should. 

So John Burroughs is rich, not in money, but in 
thought, in simplicity, in the knowledge that he is mak- 
ing the best of life. He has found out that money is 
not everything, that all the money in the world will not 
buy a light heart, or a good name, — that there is a 
place for every one, and in that place alone can a man 
be of service to himself or others, — that there alone can 
he be successful ; there only can he be "rich without 
money !" 

412 



XLII 

A Millionaire's Daughter Makes In- 
herited Wealth a Blessing to 
Thousands. 

MISS HELEN MILLER GOULD has won a 
place for herself in the hearts of Americans 
such as few people of great wealth ever gain. 
She is, indeed, one of the best known and 
most popular young women of New York, if not in the 
world. Her strong character, common sense, and high 
ideals, have made her respected by all, while her munifi- 
cence and kindness have won her the love of many. 

Her personality is charming. Upon my arrival at 
her Tarrytown home, I was made to feel that I was 
welcome, and everyone who enters her presence feels 
the same. The grand inansion, standing high on the 
hills overlooking the Hudson, has a home-like appear- 
ance that takes away any awe that may come over the 
visitor who looks upon so much beauty for the first 
time. 

Chickens play around the little stone cottage at the 
grand entrance, and the grounds are not unlike those 
of any other country house, with trees in abundance, 
and beautiful lawns. There are large beds of flowers. 



Helen Miller Gould 

and in the gardens all the summer vegetables were 
growing. 

Miss Gould takes a very great interest in her famous 
greenhouses, the gardens, the flowers, and the chickens, 
for she is a home-loving woman. It is a common thing 
to see her in the grounds, digging and raking and plant- 
ing, for all the world like some farmer's girl. That is 
one reason why her neighbors all like her ; she seems so 
unconscious of her wealth and station. 

A FACE FULL OF CHARACTER. 

When I entered Lyndhurst, she came forward to 
meet me in the pleasantest way imaginable. Her face 
is not exactly beautiful, but has a great deal of char- 
acter written upon it, and is very attractive, indeed. 
She held out her hand for me to shake in the good old- 
fashioned way, and then we sat down in the wide hall 
to talk. Miss Gould was dressed very simply. Her 
gown was of dark cloth, close-fitting, and her skirt 
hung several inches above the ground, for she is a be- 
liever in short skirts for walking. Her entire costume 
was very becoming. She never over-dresses, and her 
garments are neat, and, naturally, of excellent quality. 

HER AMBITIONS AND AIMS. 

In the conversation that followed, I was permitted 
to learn much of her ambitions and aims. She is am- 
bitious to leave a great impression on the world, — an 
impression made by good deeds well done, and this 

414 



A Friend of the Childreri 

ambition is gratifying to the ntniost. She is modest 
about her work. "I cannot find that I am doing much 
at all," she said, "when there is so very much to be 
done. I suppose I shouldn't expect to be able to do 
everything, but I sometimes feel that I want to, never- 
theless." Her good works are numerous and many- 
sided. For a number of years, she has supported two 
beds in the Babies' Shelter, connected with the Church 
of the Holy Communion, New York, and the Wayside 
Day Nursery, near Bellevue Hospital, has always found 
in her a good friend. Once a year she makes a tour 
through the day nurseries of New York, noting the 
special needs of each, and often sending checks and 
materials for meeting those needs. 

A MOST CHARMING CHARITY. 

One of her most charming charities is "Woody 
Crest," two miles from Lyndhurst, a haven of delight 
where some twoscore waifs are received at a time for 
a two-weeks' visit. She has a personal oversight of the 
place, and, by her frequent visits, makes friends with 
the wee visitors, who look upon her as a combination 
of angel and fairy godmother. Every day, a wagonette, 
drawn by two horses, takes the children, in relays, for 
long drives into the country. Amusements are provided, 
and some of those who remain for an entire season at 
\\'oody Crest are instructed in different branches. 
Twice a month some of the older boys set the type for 
a little magazine which is devoted to Woody Crest mat- 



Helen Miller Gould 

ters. There are several portable cottages erected there, 
one for the sick, one for servants' sleeping rooms, and 
a third for a laundry. 

Miss Gould's patriotism is very real and intense, and 
is not confined to times of war. Two years ago, she 
caused fifty thousand copies of the national hymn, 
"America," to be printed and distributed among the 
pupils of the public schools of New York. 

"I believe every on^ should know that hymn and 
sing it," she declared, "if he sings no other. I would 
like the children to sing it into their very souls, till it 
becomes a part of them." 

She strongly favors patriotic services in the churches 
on the Sunday preceding the Fourth of July, when she 
would like to hear such airs as "America," "Hail 
Columbia," and "The Star-Spangled Banner," and see 
the sacred edifices draped in red, white and blue. 

UNHERALDED BENEFACTIONS. 

Miss Gould has a strong prejudice against letting 
her many gifts and charities be known, and even her 
dearest friends never know "what Helen's doing now." 
Of course, her great public cliarities, as when she gives 
a hundred thousand dollars at a time, are heralded. 
Her recent gift of that sum to the government, for 
national defense, has made her name beloved through- 
out the land ; but, had she been able, she would have 
kept that secret also. 

I tried to ascertain her views regarding the educa- 

416 







i 



OVT of DEBT at LAST 



A Friend of the Children 

tion of young women of to-da}-, and what careers they 
should follow. This is one of her particular hobbies, 
and many are the young girls she has helped to attain 
to a better and more satisfactory life. 

HER MEANS OF EDUCATION. 

" In the first place," she said, "I believe most earnest- 
ly in education for women ; not necessarily the higher 
education about which we hear so much, but a good, 
common school education. As the years pass, girls 
are obliged to make their own way in the world more 
and more, and to do so they must have good schooling." 

'And what particular career do you think most de- 
sirable for young women?" 

"Oh, as to careers, there are many that young women 
follow, nowadays. I think, if I had my own way to 
make, I should fit myself to be a private secretary. 
That is a position which, I think, attracts nearly every 
young woman ; but, to fill it, she must study hard and 
learn, and then work hard to keep the place. Then I 
think there are openings for young women in the field 
of legitimate business. I've always held that women 
know as much about money aiifairs as men, only most 
of them haven't had much experience. In that field 
there are hundreds of things that a woman can do." 

THE EVIL OF IDLENESS. 

"But I don't think it matters much what a girl does 
so long as she is active, and doesn't allow herself to 



Helen Miiicr GduUI 

stagnate. There's nothing, to my mind, so pathetic as 
a girl who thinks she can't do anything, and is of no 
use to the world. Why, it's no wonder there are so 
many suicides every day !" 

She is consulted by her agents in regard to all her 
affairs. "I have no time for society," she said, "and 
indeed I do not care for it at all. It is very well for 
those who like it," she added, for she is a tolerant 
critic. 

Her life at Tarrytown is an ideal one. She runs 
down to the city at frequent intervals, to attend to busi- 
ness affairs, for she manages all her own property ; but 
she lives at Lyndhurst. She entertains but few visitors, 
and in turn visits but seldom. 

I will not attempt to specify the numerous projects 
of charity that have been given life and vigor by Miss 
Gould. I know her gifts in recent years have passed 
the million-dollar mark. 

Would you have an idea of her personality? 
If so, think of a good young woman in your own 
town, who loves her parents and her home ; who is 
devoted to the church ; who thinks of the poor on 
Thanksgiving Day and Christmas ; whose face is bright 
and manner unaffected; whose dress is elegant in its 
simplicity; who takes an interest in all things, from 
politics to religion ; whom children love and day- 
laborers greet by fervently lifting the hat ; and who. 
if she were graduated from a home seminary or col- 
lege, would receive a bouquet from every boy in town. 

418 



A Friend of the Children 

If you can think of such a young woman, and nearly 
every community has one, (and ninety-nine times out 
of a hundred she is poor,) you have a fair idea of the 
impression made on a plain man from a country town 
in Indiana by Miss Gould. 

Helen Aliller Gould is just at the threshold of her 
beautiful career. What a promise is there in her life 
and work for the coming century ! 

She has given much of her fortune for the Hall of 
Fame on the campus of the New York University, 
overlooking the Harlem River. It contains tablets for 
the names of fifty distinguished Americans, and proud 
will be the descendants of those whose names are in- 
scribed thereon. 

The human heart is the tablet upon which Miss 
Gould has inscribed her name and her "Hall of Fame" 
is as broad and high as the Republic itself. 



419 



XLIII 

A Self-made Merchant Solves the 
Problem of Practical Philanthropy 

LATE one afternoon, I stopped to converse with a 
policeman in Central Park. Another policeman 
came up. Nathan Strauss was mentioned. 
"Well, I tell you," said the first policeman, 
stamping his foot, "there is a man ! 

"Charities ! He's the only man in New York City 
who gives real charities. Why, when others want to 
give, they go to him, and have him do it for them. He 
knows what's what. I tell you, he's the most respected 
man in New York City ;" and the other said, "That's 
right." 

Go on the east side, and ask about Nathan Strauss, 
and you will hear what is as pleasant as it is rare, — the 
poor giving a rich man unstinted praise. But do not 
speak to Mr. Strauss about his work as charity ; he dis- 
likes to have it called by that name. 

PRACTICAL BENEFICENCE NOT MERE CHARITY. 

The greatest blessing that he has conferred on New 
York, is helping the poor to get pure, sterilized milk. 
No work of beneficence ever before showed such sur- 

4.20 



Merchant and Philanthropist 

prising results. It has reduced the death rate of in- 
fants over fifty per cent. Formerly, almost seventy- 
five per cent, of the children of the very poor died. 

It was in the summer of 1893 that Mr. Strauss 
opened his first milk depot, at which milk was sold for 
four cents a quart ; one and one-half cents a bottle for 
sterilized pure milk; one cent a bottle (six ounces,) 
for modified milk, and one cent a glass for pure milk. 

It was a loss to the benefactor, but he established 
other depots throughout the unhealthy portions of 
the city and in the parks. Doctors received blanks to 
fill out for milk for those unable to purchase, and to 
such it was given free. A doctor's prescription was 
honored. What followed? The death rate was re- 
duced. 

At the instigation of his son, — who died from a cold 
contracted in distributing coal, — coal yards had been 
established on the docks and elsewhere. The dealers at 
that time were retailing coal at ten cents and fourteen 
cents a basket, which made the price from twelve dol- 
lars to sixteen dollars per ton. At Mr. Strauss' depots, 
five-cent tickets procured twenty and twenty-five 
pounds ; ten-cent tickets, forty and fifty pounds, and so 
on. Most of the coal was carried in baskets on the 
shoulders and backs of those who, in some cases, had 
walked miles to obtain it. During the last financial 
panic, grocery stores were started, where five cents pro- 
cured a large amount of food. Lodging houses were 
opened, while a clean bed and a breakfast of cofifee and 

421 



Nathan Strauss 

bread could be procured for five cents, and lunch rooms 
where two cents purchased bread and coffee and corned 
beef. 

The great financier, J. Pierpont Alorgan, asked Mr. 
Strauss to be permitted to assist him in the grocery 
stores, and a large central depot was rented at 345 
Grand street, for which Mr. Morgan furnished the 
money and Mr. Strauss acted as manager. 

Although all these charities in which Mr. Strauss has 
been interested have entailed a steady loss, a great 
number of those he benefited and benefits are under 
the impression that he does not sustain a loss, and that 
they merely buy for less than they would pay else- 
where. 

HE DOES NOT WOUND THEIR SELF-RESPECT, 

This is exactly the impression he desires them to 
possess, in his own words : — 

"I do not wish to make a single one feel that he is 
receiving charity, or is in any way a pauper. Such an 
impression is harmful, and lowers the standard of those 
who have a right to consider that they are the sinews 
of the country. I wish them to feel only that they are 
buying at low prices. Suppose that those who buy five 
cents' worth of groceries and trudge a distance for 
them, are able to pay a little more. The mere fact that 
they walk far to save a few cents, proves that their 
hard-earned pennies are precious, and that there is the 
necessity of getting all that can be obtained for their 
money." 

422 



Merchant and Philanthropist 

HE IS A KEEN, ENERGETIC MANAGER. 

Such is the keynote of :Mr. Strauss' love for hu- 
manity. He is not a "lord bountiful," but a generous 
man, unsolicitous of thanks. There are many records 
of him having helped individuals. Two young men in 
his employ were threatened with an early death from 
consumption. He sent them to a sanitarium in the 
Adirondacks for a year, when they returned sound in 
health. During their absence, their salaries were paid 
to their families. 

In business, Mr. Strauss is a strict disciplinarian. He 
believes that every man should attend strictly to duty, 
and this is the fundamental secret of his success. In 
his own words, "Any man, with the ordinary amount 
of business instinct, can succeed. To succeed, you must 
be honest, believe in your own ability, and, after having 
selected your path in life, stick to it through thick and 
thin. With ordinary mental endowments, there is no 
reason why any young man should fail. 

"Do I think the chances of to-day are as great as 
some years ago? They are greater. The thing is to 
take advantage of opportunities and utilize them to the 
best of your ability. Chances, or opportunities, come 
to everyone, often, in a lifetime. They should be recog- 
nized. Never let one slip ; but weigh the possibilities. 
The great trouble is, a great many young men do not 
bestir themselves. They fall into a rut, and lack 
'ginger.' This is a bustling world, and every young 

4^3 



Nathan Strauss 

man should be wide-awake and on the lookout, con- 
stantly giving- conscientious attention to duty. Duty, 
integrity and energy are the watchwords, and will 
direct you on the road to success. Remember, the op- 
portunities of to-day are as great as ever !" 

ONWARD, EVER ; UPWARD, ALWAYS. 

But though Mr. Strauss is a tireless worker, he finds 
time for a little recreation. He is one of the best gen- 
tleman drivers in New York, and he delights to race on 
the speedway. Still, the background of his life is 
charity. For many years, he desired to establish a 
sterilizing plant on Randall's Island, for the benefit of 
waifs and foundlings taken there. Tlie death rate 
was very high. At length he gained his point, and a 
recent unsolicited letter from the matron contained the 
gratifying statement "that the death rate, since the in- 
stallation of the plant, has been reduced fully fifty per 
cent." 

In such deeds, Nathan Strauss deHghts. His life is 
one of perpetual attention to duty and to business, and 
he encourages others who would succeed, by saying: 
"Go at it with a will, and stick to your ambitious aspi- 
rations through thick and thin !" 

Mr. Strauss himself is an excellent example of the 
success of the principle which he urges upon others as 
a rule of life. His whole career has been distinguished 
by tireless energy and industry, and the interests which 
are under his control have never suffered for any lack 

424 



Merchant and Philanthropist 

of careful and thorough attention. He has always been 
deliberate and consistent in adopting and adhering to 
any policy, public or private, and never deserts those 
whom he has seen fit to honor with his confidence, save 
on absolute proof of their unworthiness. 



425 



XLIV 

A Varied Career Develops the Re- 
sourceful Head of a Great In- 
stitutional Church and College. 

IT was misfortune that proved the fortunate turning- 
point for Dr. Russell H. Conwell, the pastor of 
the largest church in America, and president of 
Temple College, which has upward of 8,000 stu- 
dents. He had not been unsuccessful prior to his ordi- 
nation to the ministry ; on the contrary, he had been a 
successful newspaper man and lawyer, and had served 
with distinction in the Civil War. But, in the panic 
of 1873, he lost most of his investments. I quote his 
own words : — 

"I then wondered, — being always of a religious tem- 
perament, — why I should make money my goal." 

We sat in his study, and he spoke thus of his inter- 
esting life : — 

"I was born at South Worthington, Hampshire 
County, Massachusetts, February 15, 1843, on my 
father's farm, called the 'Eagle's Nest,' on account of 
its high and rocky surroundings. At an early age, 
I went to school, and, when I grew older, worked 
on the farm. I was sometimes laughed at because I 

426 



Lecturer and Clergyman 

always carried a book around with mc. studying and 
memorizing as I worked. Yet I was (kill and stupid, 
never stood high in my classes, and could not grasp a 
subject as quickly as others. But I would stick to it. 
I am just as dull now, but I preserve my old habit of 
stick-to-it-iveness. If I am driving a tack and it goes 
in crooked, I lift it out, straighten it, and send it 
home. That is one of my golden rules that I force 
myself to obey." 

HE ENLISTED AT EIGHTEEN. 

"I went to Wilbraham, and, in 18G1, entered Yale 
College, taking up law, but the breaking out of the war 
interrupted my studies. I enlisted, but, being only 
eighteen years of age, my father made me ' right about 
face', and come home. If I could not fight, I could 
speak, and I delivered orations all over my native state, 
and was in some demand in Boston, Finally, in 18G"3, 
I could stand the strain no longer, and my father, 
already greatly interested in the war, permitted me to 
go to the field. 

"I returned a colonel, suffering from a wound, cam- 
paigns and imprisonment, and entered the law school 
of the Albany University, from which I was graduated 
in 1865. 

"I married and moved to the great far west, to the 
then small town of Minneapolis. There I suffered the 
usual uphill experiences and privations of a young 
lawyer trying to make his way single-handed. I opened 



Russell H. Conwell 

a law office in a two-story stone building on Bridge 
square. My clients did not come, and poverty stared 
my wife and I in the face. I became an agent for 
Thompson Brothers, of St. Paul, in the sale of land 
warrants. 

"Fortune favored me in business, and I also became 
the Minneapolis correspondent of the St. Paul 'Press.' 
I acquired some real estate, and took part in politics. 
Having once dipped into journalism, I started a paper 
of my own called 'Conwell's Star of the North.' Then 
the sheriff made his appearance, and turned the con- 
cern over to a man with more capital. Next, I brought 
the Minneapolis daily 'Chronicle' to life. It united 
with the 'Atlas,' and the combined papers formed the 
foundation for the great journal of Minneapolis, the 
'Tribune.' " 

HOUSEKEEPING IN TWO SMALL ROOMS. 

"I continued to practice law. My wife and myself 
lived in two small rooms. The front one was my office, 
and the back one, kitchen, parlor, sitting room and bed- 
room. I had never fully recovered from my wound 
received in the war. I knew Governor Marshall, and 
it was he who appointed me emigration commissioner 
for the state of Minnesota. My duties, of course, took 
me to Europe." 

When Dr. Conwell arrived in Europe, his health, 
that had been breaking down, gradually gave way, and 
he gave up his place as commissioner. For awhile, he 

428 



Lecturer and Clergyman 

rested: then, for several months, he attended lectures 
at the University of Leipsic. That pilgrimage was fol- 
lowed by a number of other journeys across the At- 
lantic to the principal countries of Europe, and to 
northern Africa. 

"In ISTO," continued Dr. Conwell, "I made a tour of 
the world as special correspondent for the Xew York 
'Tribune' and the Boston 'Traveler.' I then exposed 
the iniquities of Chinese contract immigration. I next 
returned to Boston and law, and became editor of the 
Boston Traveler.' '' 

"But, doctor, had you never entertained a desire to 
enter the ministry ?'" I asked. 

"All my life I studied theolog}-. The question was 
before me always : Shall it be law or the ministry ? 
The change came after I had lost considerable money 
in the panic of 1873. Then came death into my home. 
and the loss of my first wife. I turned to missionary 
work in Boston. As time rolled on. I became more 
interested. But the turning-point was really brought 
about by a law case. There was a meeting house in 
Lexington. Massachusetts, in 1877, dilapidated and old. 
The congregation had left it. so the few old persons 
who remained decided that it should be sold. They 
wished to consult a lawyer, and called me to Lexing- 
ton. Standing on the platform. I asked the few present 
to vote upon the question. The edifice had been derir 
to some of them, and they hemmed and hawed, and 
couldn't decide. 

429 



Russell H. Conwell 

"At length, I suggested that they put new life into 
the place. But interest in the building as a place of 
worship seemed to have departed, although they did 
not care to see it torn down." 

HOW HE ENTERED THE MINISTRY, 

''On the spur of the moment, I said that, if they 
would gather there the following Sunday morning, I 
would address them. A few came at first, then more. 
We had to rent a hall in another place. I suggested 
that they should get a pastor. 

"To my surprise, they replied that if I would be 
their pastor, they would erect a new church. 

"I studied for the ministry. One day, I startled the 
quaint village of Lexington by demolishing the little 
old church with an axe. The people were aroused by 
my spirit, and gave donations for a new church. I 
worked with the men we hired to construct it, and 
afterward attended the Newton Theological Semi- 
nary. Seventeen years ago, I came to Philadelphia as 
pastor of this church, which then worshipped in a base- 
ment some squares away." 

"But Temple College, Doctor ; how was that 
started ?" 

"About fourteen years ago a poor }'Oung man came 
to me to ask my advice how to obtain a college educa- 
tion. I offered to be his teacher. Then others joined 
until there were six. The number was gradually en- 
larged to forty, when the idea came to me to found a 



Lecturer and Clergyman 

people's college. Certain gentlemen became interested, 
and we erected Temple College, which was then con- 
nected with this church, but now is a separate and dis- 
tinct institution. We hope shortly to have it like the 
New York Universit}-. We have rented a number of 
outside buildings, and have a law school and a semi- 
nary. About four thousand attend the evening classes, 
while four thousand attend the special day classes." 

HE IS ALWAYS STUDYING SOMETHING. 

"How do you manage to keep up in all the studies?" 
I asked. Do you carry text-books around with you in 
your pockets?" 

"Yes, and I always have. I study all the time. I 
have acquired several languages in that way." 

"When do you prepare your sermons?" 

"I have never prepared a lecture or a sermon in my 
life, and I have lectured for thirty-seven years. I sel- 
dom use even notes. When in the pulpit, I rivet my 
attention on preaching, and think of nothing else." 

"Application in the most severe form, and honesty, 
are the means by which true success is attained. No 
matter what you do, do it to your utmost. You and ] 
may not do something as well as someone else, but nc 
stone should be unturned to do it to the best of our 
individual ability. I have had a varied life, and many 
experiences, and I attribute my success, if you are so 
pleased to call it, to always requiring myself to do my 
level best, if only in driving a ti''k in straight." 



XLV 

An Inspiring Personality Wins a 
Noted Preacher Fame. 

ONE of the brightest examples of early success 
in life is Frank W. Gunsaulus, D.D., one of 
the sincerest friends of young men striving to 
climb upward, that America has produced. 
Chicago has helped him, and he has helped Chicago, to 
do great things. During his six years of ministry in 
that city, before he left the pulpit and became president 
of Armour Institute, he founded two notable institu- 
tions and raised over $7,000,000 in money for charita- 
ble purposes. On the stormiest of Sunday evenings, 
after a newspaper announcement that he will speak, an 
audience two thousand five hundred strong will gather 
to hear him. It was not an uncommon sight, during 
one of his series of winter sermons, for men anxious to' 
hear the splendid orator, to be lifted through windows 
of Central Music Hall, when no more could get in at 
the doors. His most conspicuous labor has been the 
founding of the famous Armour Institute of Tech- 
nology, which now has twelve hundred students, and 
of which he is the president. 

432 



Clergyman and Educator 

CAN A PREACHER BE A POWERf 

I found him in the president's office of Armour In- 
stitute. 

"Do you think," I said, "that it is more difficult for 
a preacher to become a power in a nation than it is for 
a merchant, a lawyer, or a politician ?" 

"Rather hard to say," he answ^ered. "There art 
prejudices against and sympathies in favor of every 
class and profession. I think, however, that a preacher 
is more hke a doctor in his career. He is likely to 
make a strong local impression, but not apt to become a 
national figure. Given powerful convictions, an under- 
taking of things as they are to-day, and steady work in 
the direction of setting things right, and you may be 
sure a man is at least heading in the direction of public 
favor, whether he ever attains it or not." 

"How did you manage to do the work you have 
done, in so short a time?" 

"In the first place, I don't think I have done so very 
much ; and, in the second place, the time seems rather 
long for what I have done. I have worked hard, how- 
ever. 

"I thought to be a lawyer in my youth, and did study 
law and oratory. My father was a country lawyer at 
Chesterfield, Ohio, where I was born, and was a mem- 
ber of the Ohio Legislature during the w^ar. He was a 
very effective public speaker himself and thought that 
I ought to be an orator. So he did everything to give 
me a bent in that direction, and often took me as many 
as twenty miles to hear a good oration." 

433 



Frank W. Gunsaulus 

MEN WHO INFLUENCED HIM. 

"I admired Fisher Ames, to begin with, and, of 
course, Webster. I think Wendell Phillips and Bishop 
Matthew Simpson, whom I heard a few times, had the 
greatest influence on me. I considered them wonderful, 
moving speakers, and I do yet. Later on, Henry Ward 
Beecher and Phillips Brooks attracted my admiration." 

"Did you have leisure for study and time to hear 
orations when you were beginning life?" 

"In early years I attended the district school. From 
the twelfth to my eighteenth year, I worked on the 
farm and studied nights. For all my father's urgings 
toward the bar, I always felt an inward drawing toward 
the ministry, because I felt that I could do more there. 
My father was not a member of any church, though 
my mother was an earnest Presbyterian. Without any 
prompting from my parents, I leaned toward the min- 
istry, and finally entered it of my own accord. I was 
fortunate enough to find a young companion who was 
also studying for the ministry. We were the best of 
friends and helped each other a great deal. It was our 
custom to prepare sermons and preach them in each 
other's presence. Our audience in that case, unlike 
that of the church, never hesitated to point out errors. 
The result was that some sermons ended in arguments 
between the audience and the preacher, as to facts in- 
volved." 

HE DID NOT PRETEND TO PIETY. 

"I was graduated from the Ohio Wesleyan Seminar}- 

434 



Clergyman and Educator 

in debt. I had no reputation for piety, and I don't re- 
member that I pretended to any. I had convictions, 
however, and a burning desire to do something, to 
achieve something for the benefit of my fellowmen. and 
i was ready for the first opportunity." 

"Was it long in coming?" 

"No, but you would not have considered it much of 
an opportunity. I took charge of a small church at 
Harrisburg, Ohio, at a salary of three hundred and 
twenty dollars a year. In preaching regularly I soon 
found it necessary to formulate some kind of a theory 
of life, — to strive for some definite object. I began to 
feel the weight of the social problem." 

ARE THE DICE OF LIFE LOADED ? 

"One important fact began to make itself plain, and 
that was that the modern young man is more or less 
discouraged by the growing belief that all things are 
falling into the hands of great corporations and trusts, 
and that the individual no longer has much chance. 
My father had been more or less of a fatalist in his 
view of life, and often quoted Emerson to me, to the 
effect that the dice of life are loaded, and fall accord- 
ing to a plan. j\Iy mother leaned to the doctrine of 
Calvin, — to predestination. 1 inherited a streak of the 
same feeling, and the conditions I observed made me 
feel that there was probably something in the theory. 
I had to battle this down and convince myself that we 
are what we choose to make ourselves. Then I had to 

435 



Frank W. Gunsaulus 

set to work to counteract the discouraging view taken 
by the young people about me." 

"You were a Methodist, then?" 

"Yes, I was admitted to preach in that body, but it 
was not long before I had an attack of transcendental- 
ism, and fell out with the Methodist elder of my dis- 
trict. The elder was wholly justified. He was a dry old 
gentleman, with a fund of common sense. After one 
of my flights, in which I advocated perfection far above 
the range of humankind, he came to me and said : 'My 
dear young man, don't you know that people have to 
live on this planet?' The rebuke struck me as earthly 
then, but it has grown in humor and common sense 
since. 

"I left voluntarily. I knew I was not satisfactory, 
and so I went away. I married when I was twenty. I 
preached in several places, and obtained a charge at 
Columbus, Ohio." 

A minister's true ideal. 

"When did you begin to have a visible influence on 
affairs, such as you have since exercised?" 

"Just as soon as I began to formulate and follow 
what I considered to be the true ideal of the minister." 

"And that ideal was?" 

"That the question to be handled by a preacher must 
not be theological, but sociological." 

"How did this conviction work out at Columbus?" 



Clergyman and Educator 

"The church became too small for the congregation, 
and so we had to move to the opera house. 

"My work there showed me that any place may be a 
pulpit, — editorial chair, managerial chair, almost any- 
thing. I began to realize that a wdiole and proper 
w^ork would be to get hold of the Christian forces out- 
side the ecclesiastical machine and get them organized 
into activity. I was not sure about my plan yet, how- 
ever, so I left Columbus for Newtonville, Massa- 
chusetts, and took time to review my studies. There 
I came under the influence of Phillips Brooks. When I 
began once more to get a clear idea of what I wanted 
to do, I went to Baltimore, on a call, and preached two 
years at Brown Memorial Presbyterian Church. 

"I came to Chicago in 1872. Plymouth Church 
offered an absolutely free pulpit, and an opportunity 
to work out some plans that I thought desirable." 

HIS WORK IN CHICAGO. 

"How did you go about your work in this city?" 
"The first thing that seemed necessary for me to do 
was to find a place where homeless boys of the city 
who had drifted into error and troubles of various 
kinds could be taken into the country and educated. I 
preached a sermon on this subject, and one member 
gave a fine farm of two hundred and forty acres for 
the purpose. Plymouth Church built Plymouth Cot- 
tage there, and the Tllinnis Training School was moved 

437 



Frank W. Gunsaulus 

there, and other additions were made, gradually adding 
to its usefulness." 

"The church grew under your ministration there, 
did it not?" 

"You can leave off that about me. It grew, yes, and 
we established a mission." 

"Was there not a sum raised for this?" 

"Yes ; Mr, Joseph Armour gave a hundred thousand 
dollars to house this mission, and the church has since 
aided it in various ways." 

"This Armour Institute is an idea of yours, is it 
not ?" 

"Well, it is in line with my ideas in what it accom- 
plishes. It is the outcome of ]\Ir. Armour's great 
philanthropy." 

"Do you find, now that you have experimented so 
much, that your ideals concerning what ought to be 
done for the world were too high ?" I asked. 

"On the contrary," answered Dr. Gunsaulus, "I have 
sometimes felt that they were not high enough. If 
they had been less than they are, I should not have 
accomplished what I have." 

"What has been your experience as to working 
hours ?" 

"I have worked twelve and fourteen, at times even 
eighteen hours a day, particularly when I was working 
to establish this institution, but I paid for it dearly. I 
suffered a paralytic stroke which put me on my back 

438 



Clergyman and Educator 

for nine months, and in that time you see I not only 
suffered, but lost all I had gained by the extra hours." 

HOW TO MEET GREAT EMERGENCIES. 

"You believe in meeting great emergencies with 
great individual energy ?" 

"There doesn't seem to be any way out of it. A man 
must work hard, extra hard, at times, or lose many a 
battle." 

"You have mingled in public affairs here in Chicago, 
also, have you not?" 

"Yes, I have always tried to do my share." 

"You believe the chances for young men to-day are 
as good as in times gone by?" 

"I certainly do. That is my whole doctrine. The 
duties devolving on young men are growing greater, 
more important, more valuable all the time. The wants 
of the world seem to grow larger, more urgent every 
day. What all young men need to do is to train them- 
selves. They must train their hands to deftness, train 
their eyes to see clearly, and their ears to hear and 
understand. Look at the call there is going to be upon 
young men when this country will be organizing its 
new possessions and opening up new fields of activity. 
What the world needs is young men equipped to do the 
work. There is always work to be done." 

"You think, in your own field, there is a call for ener- 
getic young men?" 

"It never was greater. A young preacher who looks 

439 



Frank W. Gunsaulus 

around him, studies the conditions, finds out just a few 
of the ten thousand important things that are going 
begging for someone to do them, and then proceeds to 
work for their accomplishment, will succeed beyond his 
wildest dreams. 

"The world looks for leaders, it looks for men who 
are original, able and practical ; and all I have got to 
say to a young man is simply to find out clearly all 
about a need in a certain direction, and then lead on 
to the alleviation of it. Money, influence, honor, will 
all follow along after, to help." 



440 



XLVI 

From the Forge to the Pulpit, a Life 
of Devotion and Application. 

X , r"^ O you want me to tell you of myself, — to 
• • ^^ 'blaw my ain ham,' as we used to say in 
^^ old Yorkshire. Well, I'm not in love with 
the undertaking, for what we call a self- 
made man usually shows that he has made a pretty 
poor fist of it when he begins to describe the job him- 
self. However, if an outline of my life be of service, 
I give it gladly. The beginning was in the hamlet of 
Ilkley, Yorkshire, England, seventy-five years ago. I 
was born well ; that is, I was born of simple, hard- 
working folk who inspired in me very early a hearty 
respect for work. My mother was a noble woman. I 
can see the old home now, — the bit of grass in front, 
the plum tree, the whitewashed walls, and within, the 
two rooms with floor of flags, the old prints on the 
walls, the highly polished chairs and bureau, the tall 
clock that was always too fast at bedtime and in the 
morning, and always too slow at mealtime, the little 
shelf of books, — Bunyan, 'Robinson Crusoe,' Gold- 
smith, and the Bible, full of pictures. Until I was 
eight vears old, I went to school to old Willie Hardie, 

441 



Robert CoUyer 

who tried to find in nie the spring of what we called the 
humanities in the same way that they used to try to 
locate a spring- of water, namely : with a hazel rod." 

THE RIVALS : BOOKS AND THE MAIDEN. 

"All the schooling I ever had under the master was 
finished in my eighth year, when I went to earn my 
own living in a linen factory. There was an article of 
faith in our good home creed about which both my 
father and mother were of one mind, — the boys must 
learn a trade. So, after six years in the factory, I was 
apprenticed to the village blacksmith. I was a hard- 
working, conscientious boy, but full of mischief and 
fond of fun. I had, however, a ravenous appetite for 
books. I remember once, when quite small, I stood 
for a long time before a shop window with a big 
English penny in my hand, debating whether I should 
spend it for a particular kind of candy, of which I was 
very fond, or for a little paper-covered book of travels. 
At length I went in and bought the book. At meals I 
used to read, and even when I was courting the lass 
whom I made my wife, I read all the books in her 
father's house. I am surprised she did not give me 
the mitten, and it would have served me right, too. 

"Books were not only pleasing to me, but were my 
passion. Give a young man or maiden a passion for 
anything, — for books, business, painting, teaching, 
farming, mechanics or music, I care not what, and you 
give him or her a lever with which to lift their world. 

442 



The Blacksmith Preacher 

and a patent of nobility, if the thing they do is noble. 
So I call my reading my college course. It was not an 
adequate college nor an adequate course, and there have 
been times when I felt a trifle sad that there should 
have been no chance for me at a good, all-round educa- 
tion. But there is a chance in the everlasting hunger 
to read books, and it is with reading as it is with eat- 
ing, — you grow choice when there is a plenty. You 
instinctively learn to distinguish what is sweet and 
wholesome and what is neither, and then you read as 
you eat, — only the best. 

"A great sorrow came to me in 1849. As a result 
of it, I found my way into a Methodist meeting house, 
and began to express what I felt. From a few words, 
uttered standing by my seat in the meeting, I began to 
preach at irregular intervals ; and when I did, it became 
the custom, after a while, for some one to go through 
the village, ringing a bell and calling out : 'The black- 
smith is going to preach this morning.' The working 
people came to hear me because I was one of them- 
selves. Then they would have me preach regularly. — 
at nothing a Sunday and find myself. 

"Sometimes I would forget the flight of time and 
preach for two hours or more. As I look back upon 
the poor mortals who sat under my ministrations for 
such a length of time, I am reminded of the judge who, 
when asked how long a sermon ought to last, replied : 
'About twenty minutes, with leanings to the side of 
mercy.' " 

443 



Robert Collyer 

THE LIGHT THAT LED OVER THE SEA. 

"My only worldly ambition was to make my way as 
a blacksmith, but one day there came to me in a flash 
the thought that I must go to America, where I would 
have to bow to no class, but would be as good a man 
as any. Many times in my life these sudden burstings 
of light, half thought, half feeling, have come to me; 
and, when they do come, I cease to reason about the 
matter. I simply obey the impulse with all the power 
of my will. It would have taken tremendous difficul- 
ties to have kept me from embarking for this country 
after the flash came, and so, one fine spring morning 
in 1850, I and my little family, with our small store of 
worldly goods, went aboard the old ship 'Roscius,' 
made ourselves as comfortable as we could in the steer- 
age, and a month later were in New York. 

"I had made up my mind to settle in the vicinity of 
Philadelphia, and there I soon found work at the anvil. 
It was lucky I did, for, when we reached our destina- 
tion, my whole capital amounted to only about twenty 
dollars. We made ourselves a little home, and I 
worked at my trade for the next nine years, except 
during the panic of 1857, when I carried the hod and 
broke stone on the turnpike for a dollar a day. Mean- 
while, I was preaching o' Sundays, again at nothing a 
Sunday. In 1859, I was asked to devote myself alto- 
gether to preaching, — to go to Chicago as a minister to 
the poor. Well, I went. I said good-by forever to the 

444 



The Blacksmith Preacher 

anvil, in whose ringing voice I had heard so many 
years the old sermon on the nobility of work." 

GENIUS IS DEVOTION AND APPLICATION. 

"Before I had been in Chicago a great while, some 
people got together and built a church, and appointed 
me pastor of it, hardly so much as saying to me 'by your 
leave.' It was named the Unity Church, and I remained 
in charge of it till 1879, when I came to New York to 
preach in the Church of the Messiah. 

''Here I have since remained. My life, you see, is 
divided into two sections, — forty years in the pulpit, 
twenty-one years at the anvil. I have worked on long 
lines, and I will say to young men that, when your 
liomes and your schools have done all they can for you, 
and you begin the work of life, you must take hold 
with a will and be content to work hard on long lines. 
People say that such and such a person has genius for 
what he or she takes in hand, and that is the secret of 
the success attained. But I say that genius means 
strong devotion and steadfast application. You may 
imagine that you can go from the bottom to the top of 
the ladder at one jump, but it is not true. Going up 
the ladder at one jump is like the toy monkey that goes 
up at a jump and comes down head first. The men 
and women who achieve true success are all hard climb- 
ers. They work in one direction. Our course must not 
be like a cow-path, all over the pasture and into the 
woods, for that may mean through the woods into the 
wilderness. 

445 



Robert Coil) cr 

"I want to say, too, that, if we expect to do well in 
iliis life, we must keep well, by all the means in our 
power ; — eat well, and sleep well eight hours out of the 
twenty-four. Young men should choose, as earl}- as 
they can, a good and true woman for a wife, and look 
forward to a noble family of children. My ambition 
was to have seven, and the all-wise Father gave me 
nine. If a young man has good mental and physical 
health and works hard, his life will be sweet and clean. 
He will do his day's work well and his life's work well, 
and at the end he will be able to say, with Adam in the 
play : — 

'■ 'Though I look old. yet am I strong and lusty, 

For in my youth I never did apply hot and rebellious 

liquors to my blood. 
And did not with unbashful forehead woo 
The means of weakness and debility. 
Therefore my age is lusty winter, frosty, but kindly.'" 



446 



BOOK TWO 

MEN AND WOMEN 

WHO HAVE ACHIEVED EMINENCE. 



Success Maxims 

If I were a cobbler, it would be my pride 

The best of all cobblers to be ; 
If I were a tinker, no tinker beside 
Should mend an old kettle like me. 

— Old Song. 
People do not lack strength; they lack will. — Victor 
Hugo. 

Every man stamps his own value upon himself, and we are 
great or little according to our own will. — Samuel Smiles. 

The saddest failures in life are those that come from not 
putting forth of the power and will to succeed. — Whipple. 

As men in a crowd instinctively make room for one who 
would force his way through it, so mankind makes way for 
one who rushes toward an object beyond them. — D wight. 

There can be no doubt that the captains of industry to- 
day, using that term in its broadest sense, are men who began 
life as poor boys. — Seth Low. 

Do noble things, not dream them, all day long, 

And so make life, death and the vast forever one grand. 

sweet song. Charles Kingsley. 

Dost thou love life? Then do not squander time, for that 
is the stuff life is made of. — Franklin. 

The high prize of life, the crowning fortune of a man, is 
to be born with a bias to some pursuit, which finds him in 
employment and happiness. — Emerson. 

A man that is young in years may be old in hours, if he 
have lost no time. — Bacon. 

The 0!ie prudence in life is concentration ; the one evil is dis- 
sipation ; and it makes no difference whether our dissipations 
are coarse or fine. . . . Everything is good which takes 
away one plaything and delusion more, and sends us home to 
add one stroke of faithful work.— Emerson. 



448 







STATES ME S 




E. G. Acheson 



C. H. Patterson 



Robert C. dowry 



CAPTAINS of INDUSTRY 




MANUFACTURERS 




TRANSPORTATION LEADERS 




INVENTORS 




Edward Cooper 



Robt. L Ogden 

MERCHANTS 



W. F. King 




Cornelius Vanderbilt 



Hetty Green 



William Waldorf Astor 



FINANCIERS 




Tom L. Johnson 



POLITICAL LEADERS 




Joseph McKenna 



LAWYERS and JURISTS 




SOLDIERS and SAILORS 




EXPLORERS and TRAVELLERS 




E Benjamin Andrews | j William T 



Hams /] Woodrow Wilson 



if j«imi«'.^ ■A'^^^mM W'-9W!^f4 




lur T Hadley ^*^^^1| H M. Mac Cracken 

EDUCATORS 




James M BucI- 



^0«f V;': -J^ffl^ '.■ ^tP*^ J 




j-^-i.V Henry Watterson V:^;:) George H, 

EDITORS 



V.ii!. law Re id '.'(a} 




Edward E. Higgms 

PUBLISHERS 




ORATORS 




Franz Kneise, Theodore Tliornas 

MUSICIANS 




SINGERS 




ACTORS 




ACTRESSES 







ORGANIZERS and LECTURERS 




John Singer Sargent Adolphe Bouguereau Alma'^Tldema 



ARTISTS 




ILLUSTRATORS, DECORATORS and SCULPTORS 




CARTOONISTS 




HUMORISTS 




JOURNALISTS and WRITERS 




POETS 




CELEBRITIES 




AUTHORS 




'^x ArviAlla FHith RArr "^ ^''^- ># Mrs Burton Harrison^ 
^^ Amelia Edith Barr ^ Gertrude Atherton ,'^^ ■ ■- - ^ 





Mrs, E, S. P. Ward Anna Katherine Greene Frances H. Burnett| 




NOVELISTS 




BEFORMEBS 




|j|| Darius Ogden Milis |ij|| n^len Miller Gould Ifl 






r 







Codman Pott 




Anson Phelps Stokes 



W 



X 




Mrs. Russell Sat;.f^K:^ 



PHILANTHROPIS TS 




iji Bishop H. C. Potter |§| Bishop Wm. Taylor ^ B Fay Mills |^ 




DIVINES 



BOOK THREE 

ENCYCLOPEDIC BIOGRAPHIES, 

OR THE ROMANCE OF REALITY. 



Success Maxims 

"Never give up: for the wisest is boldest, 
Knowing that Providence mingles the cup ; 
And of all maxims, the best, as the oldest. 
Is the stern watchword of ' Never give up !' " 

— Holmes. 

I find nothing so singular in life as this : that everything 
opposing appears to lose its substance the moment one actually 
grapples with it.— Hawthorne. 

Perpetual pushing and assurance put a difficulty out of 
countenance, and make a seeming impossibility give way. — 
Jeremy Collier. 

The truest wisdom is a resolute determination. — Napo- 
leon I. 

He wants wit, that wants resolved will. — Shakespeare. 

When a firm decisive spirit is recognized, it is curious to 
see how the space clears around a man and leaves him room 
and freedom. — John Foster. 

Self-distrust is the cause of most of our failures. In the 
assurance of strength there is strength, and they are the weak- 
est, however strong, who have no faith in themselves or their 
powers. — Bovee. 

Self-reverence, self-knowledge, self-control — these three 
alone lead life to sovereign power. — Tennyson. 

There is no fate ! Between the thought and the success, 
God is the only agent. — Bulwer. 

Character must stand behind and back up everything — the 
sermon, the poem, the picture, the play. None of them is worth 
a straw without it.— J. G. Holland. 

I hate a thing done by halves. If it be right, do it boldly; 
if it be wrong, leave it undone. — Gilpin. 

Doing well depends upon doing completely. — Persian 
Proverb. 

Things don't turn up in this world until somebody turns 
them up. — Garfield. 

We live in a new and exceptional age. America is another 
name for Opportunity. Our whole history appears like a last 
effort of the Divine Providence in behalf of the human race. — 
Emerson. 



496 



STATESMEN. 



William Boyd Allison. 

William Boyd Allison was born at 
Perry, Ohio, March 2, 1829. His 
father, John Allison, was a farmer, 
and young William spent his boyhood 
in work on the farm and in attending 
the district school. At the age of 
sixteen he studied at the Academy at 
Wooster and subsequently spent a 
year at Allegheny college in Alead- 
ville, Pennsylvania. After that he 
made enough money by teaching 
school to pay for his admission in the 
Western Reserve college in Hudson, 
Ohio. He studied law in Wooster, 
and in 1851 was admitted to the bar. 
Soon after he became deputy county 
clerk. His political tastes were made 
evident early in life. In 1856 he was 
a delegate to the Republican state 
convention and supported Fremont 
for president. In the following year 
he moved to Ohio, and settled in 
Dubuque, where he has since resided. 
He was a delegate at the Chicago Re- 
publican Convention which nominated 
Abraham Lincoln for President. At 
the beginning of the Civil war he was 
appointed on the staff of the Gover- 
nor of Ohio. In 1862 he was elected 
to the Thirty-eighth congress and 
was re-elected three times in succes- 
sion. He was the leading member of 
the ways and means committee dur- 
ing the Civil war and was of great use 
to the President and the Secretary of 
the Treasury in devising plans for 
raising money. He was elected to 
the United States senate in 1872. His 
previous record in the house caused 
his selection as chairman of the sen- 
ate committee on appropriations. Mr. 
Allison has always taken a prominent 
part in tariflf questions and was chief- 



ly instrumental in framing the senate 
tariff bill of the Fiftieth congress. 
In 1881 he was offered the position 
of secretary of the Treasury by Pres- 
ident Garfield, but declined, and, in 
1888, he was a leading candidate for 
nomination for the presidency. After 
the election of Mr. Harrison he was 
again offered the treasury portfolio, 
which he again declined. Senator 
Allison has always held the respect 
of public men, and has never used his 
position to enrich himself. His tastes 
are refined, he is an agreeable host, 
and popular in both public and private 
life. 

Grover Cleveland. 

Grover Cleveland was born at Cald- 
well, New Jersey, March 18, 1837. 
His ancestors came from England. 
His father was a Presbyterian min- 
ister and he was named after the 
Rev. Steven Grover. In 1841 the 
family moved to Fayetteville, New 
York, where the future president 
was educated in the public schools. 
Between lessons he acted as clerk in 
a country store. He received further 
education at a local academy, and 
was later appointed assistant teach- 
er in the New York Institution for 
the Blind. In 1855, while helping his 
uncle. Lewis F. Allen, at Buffalo, 
compiling "The American Word 
Book," he began to read law, and, in 
1859, was admitted to the bar. He 
was appointed assistant district attor- 
ney of Erie county in 1863, but in 
1865 he was defeated for the district 
attorneyship of the same county. 
Thereupon he became a member of a 
Buffalo law firm. In 1871 he was 
elected sheriff of Erie county. At 



497 



Encyclopedic Biographies, or 



the close of this term he helped to 
form the firm of Bass, Cleveland & 
Bissel. In 1881 he was elected mayor 
of Buffalo by the largest majority 
to a mayoralty candidate ever given 
in that city. In 1882 he was made 
governor of the state of New York. 
He was nominated as Democratic 
candidate for the presidency in 1884, 
was elected, and inaugurated on 
March 4, 1885. His term of office 
was notable on account of his exer- 
cising the veto power beyond all 
precedent. He vetoed one hundred 
and fifteen out of nine hundred and 
eighty-seven bills, which had passed 
both houses, one hundred and two of 
these being private pension bills. On 
June 2, 1886, he was married, in the 
White House, to Frances Folsom, the 
daughter of one of his former law 
partners. In 1888 Air. Cleveland was 
candidate for a second term as presi- 
dent, but was defeated by Benjamin 
Harrison. In 1892 he was again a 
candidate, and this time he was elect- 
ed. LIr. Cleveland was without doubt 
the most popular Democrat of his 
time when running for the presi- 
dency. He is an enthusiastic devotee 
oJ gun and rod, an ideal host, and 
even those who differ with him polit- 
ically admit his statesmanship. 

ViLLiAM Pierce Frye. 

William Pierce Frye, who, since 
1861, has been United States senator 
from Maine, was born at Lewiston, 
Maine, September 2, 1831. His father 
was Colonel John N. Frye and his 
mother Alice N. (Davis) Frye. Grad- 
uating from Bowdoin college in 1850, 
he subsequently carried out the wishes 
of his family and the trend of his 
own inclinations by following a legal 
career, in which he was eminently 
successful. Becoming a member of 
the Maine legislature in 1861, he 
was mayor of Lewiston from 1866 to 
1867, and afterward held a variety of 



political offices, including the attorney- 
generalship of Maine from 1867 to 
1869, presidential elector 1864, was 
made a member of congress in 1871, 
which office he held for ten years, 
was chairman of the commerce com- 
mittee of the senate and member of 
the peace commission in Paris, 1898; 
was president pro tem. of the sen- 
ate from 1896 to 1901, and after the 
death of Vice-President Hobart dis- 
charged the duties of that office dur- 
ing the Fifty-sixth congress. He is 
now acting chairman of the commit- 
tee on foreign relations. Mr. Frye 
married Caroline Spears, who died in 
1900. His life history is one that has 
for its moral the power of integrity 
when welded to unceasing effort. 

John Hay. 

John Hay, who, since 1890, has 
been secretary of state of the United 
States, first saw the light at Salem, 
Indiana, on October 8, 1838. His 
father was Dr. Charles Hay, and John 
was educated in the common schools 
at Warsaw, Illinois, and in the acad- 
emy at Springfield, Illinois. He grad- 
uated from Brown university in 1858, 
and after a preparatory period in a 
local law school was admitted to the 
Illinois bar. Mr. Hay was one of the 
private secretaries of President Lin- 
coln. He was breveted colonel of 
United States Volunteers and was 
also assistant adjutant-general during 
the Civil war. He has also been sec- 
retary of legation at Paris, Madrid 
and Vienna and was charge d'af- 
faires at Vienna. From 1879 to 1881 
he acted as first assistant secretary of 
state. During the international sani- 
tary conference of 1881 he was made 
its president. His services as ambas- 
sador to England from 1897 to 1898 
will be long remembered in connec- 
tion with his tactful and dignified 
diplomacy. Mr. Hay, notwithstand- 
ing his many and onerous official 



498 



The Romance of Reality. 



duties has found time to write books 
of both prose and poetry. His Cas- 
tilian Days and Pike County Ballads 
are among the most popular of these. 
In 1874 he married Clara Stone, of 
Cleveland, Ohio. 

George Frisbie Hoar. 

A commanding figure among the 
Republican forces in the United States 
senate, not alone from his personality 
and ability, but also because of his 
attitude on trust legislation and on 
the Philippine question, is George 
Frisbie Hoar, Massachusetts. Mr. 
Hoar was born in Concord, Massa- 
chusetts, August 29, 1826. A gradu- 
ate of Harvard in 1846, aged twenty, 
and later of Harvard law school, he 
has retained his interest in higher 
education, and in scholarly matters. 
He has been an overseer of Harvard 
college from 1874 to 1880, at various 
times regent of the Smithsonian In- 
stitute, a trustee of the Leicester 
academy and the Peabody Museum 
of Archaeology, and officer of various 
national and state societies. He set- 
tled in Worcester, Massachusetts, 
after graduating and practiced law. 
He has been married twice, his first 
wife being Marj' Louisa Spurr and 
his second Ruth A. Miller. His ser- 
vice in the senate, since 1877, is ex- 
ceeded by but few fellow-members, 
and he represents that body's best 
traditions. He was elected because, 
as legislator from 1852 to 1856, as 
state senator in 1856, and as member 
of congress from i86q until he was 
sent to the senate, he had shown 
marked ability, an unfailing watch- 
fulness for public welfare and an un- 
swerving honesty as rare as it is de- 
sirable. Senator Hoar is a striking 
example of how irreproachable integ- 
rity can take active and prominent 
part in party politics. He has kept 
his influence in his party and in gen- 
eral legislation in spite of sometimes 



opposing leaders of his own party, 
when his conscience and judgment 
bade him do so. 

Henry Cabot Lodge. 

Henry Cabot Lodge was born in 
Boston, Massachusetts, May 12, 1850. 
He prepared for college in Dixwell 
Latin school, and, entering Harvard, 
was graduated in 1876. After his 
graduation he spent a year in travel- 
ing. Returning to America in 1872, 
he entered the Harvard law school. 
In January, 1874, he became assistant 
editor of the North American Re- 
view, which position he held until 
November, 1876. In 1875 he was a 
lecturer on The History of the 
American Colonies, in Harvard. 
From 1879 to 1882 he was associate 
editor of the International Review of 
Boston. During the same period he 
was elected member of the Massa- 
chusetts house of representatives. In 
1881 he was the Republican candidate 
for the state senate, but was defeated. 
He was nominated for congress in 
1884, but was again defeated. In 
1886, however, being nominated 
again, he was successful and was re- 
elected for three successive congress- 
es, but resigned after his last election 
on account of having been made a 
United States senator, January 17, 
1893. In the senate he has made his 
mark. Mr. Lodge is an orator of 
much ability, a far-sighted political 
executive, and a writer of considera- 
ble merit. Among his books are: A 
Short History of the English Colo- 
nies, Life of Washington. Daniel 
Webster, History of Boston, and 
he has contributed to the Encyclo- 
paedia Britannica and other works. 
He is a fluent lecturer. He is a mem- 
ber of the Massachusetts Historical 
Society, the American Academy of 
Arts and Sciences, trustee of the Bos- 
ton Athenaeum, a member of the 
American Antiquarian Society, and a 



499 



Encyclopedic Biographies, or 



member of the New England His- 
toric Genealogical Society. In 1874 
he was elected an overseer of Har- 
vard university, and was ofifered the 
degree of LL.D. in 1875. He mar- 
ried, on June 29, 1871, Anna, daugh- 
ter of Rear Admiral Charles S. 
Davis, and has three children by her. 

Richard Olney. 

Richard Olney was born in Ox- 
ford, Massachusetts, September 15, 
1835, and is of English ancestry. He 
received his preliminary education at 
Leicester academy, and graduated 
with high honors at Brown univer- 
sity in 1856. He was graduated with 
the degree of bachelor of laws from 
Harvard law school in 1858, and was 
admitted to the bar in the following 
year, entering the office of Judge Ben- 
jamin F. Thomas, with whom he was 
associated for ten years. IMr. Olney 
made a specialty of the laws relative 
to wills, estates and corporations. In 
1893 he was appointed attorney-gen- 
eral by President Cleveland. By his 
advice Mr. Cleveland called out regu- 
lar troops, July. 1894, to suppress the 
rioting that followed on the Chicago 
American railway union strike. In 
March, 1895, he successfully defended 
that action in an argument before the 
Supreme Court in the habeas corpus 
proceedings brought by Eugene V. 
Debs, who had been convicted of in- 
citing the strikers. Upon the death 
of Walter Q. Gresham, Mr. Olney 
was appointed secretary of state and 
took office June 10, 1895. He was 
married, in 1861, to Agnes Park, 



daughter of Benjamin F. Thomas, of 
Boston. 

Elihu Root. 

Elihu Root, secretary of war of the 
United States and one of the most 
successful lawyers of his generation, 
was born at Clinton, New York, Feb- 
ruary 15, 1845. His father was Orin 
Root, who was for many years pro- 
fessor of mathematics at Hamilton 
college, from which institution 
young Root graduated in 1864. For 
a year or more he was a teacher in 
Rome, New York, academy. Coming 
to New York, he studied in the Uni- 
versity law school until 1867, when 
he was admitted to the bar, begin- 
ning to practice forthwith. He lost 
no time in getting into the current of 
affairs in the metropolis, and soon 
began to attract attention on account 
of his earnestness and ability, and so, 
while still a very young man, was re- 
tained on important cases. President 
Arthur appointed him United States 
attorney for the southern district of 
New York in 1883. He was delegate- 
at-large at the state constitutional 
convention in 1894, was appointed 
secretary of war, August i, 1899, by 
President McKinley. and was reap- 
pointed in 1901. As a corporation 
lawyer he has had to do wnth some 
historical legal cases, such as the 
Hocking Valley suit, in which the 
amount involved was $8,000,000. A 
few years ago he erected in the Ham- 
ilton college grounds the Root Hall 
of Science as a memorial to his fa- 
ther. He is married and has three 
children— two boys and a girl. 



INDUSTRIAL LEADERS. 



E. G. ACHESON. 

E. G. Acheson, the inventor of car- 
borundum, which may be called an 
artificial gem that, unlike the major- 



ity of gems, is much more useful than 
ornamental, has proven that for a 
man of ideas and ability the world 
of to-day is as full oi opportunities^ 



500 



The Romance of Reality. 



as it was in those periods which are 
somewhat vaguely alluded to by less 
successful men as "the good old 
times." Mr. Acheson was born at 
Washington, Pennsylvania, in 1854, 
and after receiving a public school, 
college and technical training, entered 
the employ of Edison, the inventor. 
From the first he was a persistent 
and somewhat daring experimentalist, 
one of his scientific fads being the 
manufacture of artificial diamonds, 
and it was during the investigations 
made by him in relation thereunto 
that carborundum — a substance which 
has revolutionized some industries 
and incidentally brought fame and 
fortune to its discoverer and his as- 
sociates — was obtained. The principle 
of the electric furnace, by means of 
which the substance in question is 
manufactured, was in existence many 
years before Mr. Acheson began to 
use it in connection with his experi- 
mental work, but other scientists had 
failed to recognize its possibilities. 
Carborundum is produced by fusing 
carbon and silicon by means of a 
huge electric arc, the result being a 
mass of beautifully colored crystals 
which are harder than any known 
substance except diamonds. Carbo- 
rundum is rapidly taking the place of 
emery for abrasive purposes. An- 
other product of the electric furnace — 
artificial graphite — is also a discovery 
of Mr. Acheson, and which is of 
great value in many of the arts and 
sciences. 

Charles Henry Cramp. 

"He did not cease to be a student 
when he left school." This fact to a 
very great extent accounts for the 
achievements of Charles H. Cramp, 
who is the president of the largest 
shipbuilding enterprise in the United 
States. He was born in Philadelphia, 
May 9, 1828, and is the oldest son of 
William Cramp, who was the founder 



of the industry which bears his name. 
After receiving a thorough schooling 
and graduating from the Philadelphia 
high school, he learned the shipbuild- 
ing trade with his father. He is now 
recognized as the head of naval archi- 
tecture on the American continent. 
Mr. Cramp's services in the recon- 
struction of the navy and in connec- 
tion with the revival of the American 
merchant marine alone entitle him to 
permanent distinction. Beginning in 
1887 his firm built, in rapid succes- 
sion, the Yorktown (gunboat), the 
Vesuvius (dynamite torpedo vessel), 
Baltimore (protected cruiser), Phila- 
delphia (protected cruiser), New 
York (armored cruiser), Columbia 
(protected cruiser), Minneapolis 
(protected cruiser), Indiana (battle- 
ship), Massachusetts (battleship), 
Brooklyn (armored cruiser), and the 
Iowa (seagoing battleship). The fleet 
has an aggregate of nearly eighty 
thousand tons of displacement and 
one hundred and forty-seven thousand 
indicated horse-power. The shipyard 
covers thirty acres of ground, employs 
six thousand men and was capitalized 
at $5,000,000 in 1894. The William 
Cramp & Sons Ship and Engine 
Building Co., from a simple ship- 
yard, has reached the status of the 
greatest and most complete naval ar- 
senal in the western hemisphere. 

Charles Ranlett Flint. 

The personality of Charles R. Flint 
does not suggest the strenuous nature 
of his life, past and present; yet but 
few men in this country have shoul- 
dered or for that matter are shoulder- 
ing so many business responsibilities 
as he is doing — and of large caliber 
at that. Mr. Flint's successes on the 
lines indicated are due to system, and 
system only. With him there is a 
place for each responsibility and each 
responsibility occupies its place in the 
total scheme of his business existence. 



501 



Encyclopedic Biographies, or 



He was born at Thomaston, Maine, 
January 24, 1850, graduated from the 
Polytechnic institute, Brooklyn, in 
1868, and in 1883 married E. Kate, 
daughter of Joseph F. Simmons, of 
Troy, N. Y. To catalogue the indus- 
tries and enterprises which Air. Flint 
has organized or is connected with 
would be an undertaking in itself. 
Suffice it that he is prominently iden- 
tified with the rubber and lumber in- 
dustries, is interested in street rail- 
ways in New York state, is a director 
in several banks, has organized iron 
and steel, steamship, starch, caramel 
and general export companies, has 
acted as United States consul in Cen- 
tral American countries, in 1893 fitted 
out a fleet of war vessels for the 
Brazilian republic, bought for and de- 
Hvered to Japan a cruiser during the 
China-Japan war, and, in 1898, was 
the confidential agent of the United 
States in negotiating for the purchase 
of war vessels. 

Charles Melville Hays. 

It is a good thing for the world at 
large that human talents are of a 
diversified nature. It is an equally 
excellent thing that the possession of 
special gift on the part of an indi- 
vidual is recognized by those with 
whom he comes in contact. A case in 
point is furnished by Charles M. 
Hays, who, until lately, was presi- 
dent of the Southern Pacific railroad. 
Mr. Hays' work in life seems to have 
\ been that of turning unprofitable rail- 
road systems into permanently pay- 
ing propositions. He was born May 
16, 1856, at Rock Island, Illinois, his 
parents being in fairly comfortable 
circumstances. After a common school 
training he entered the railroad ser- 
vice in 1873, his first position being 
in the passenger department of the 
St. Louis, Atlantic & Pacific railroad. 
The rungs of the ladder of his subse- 
quent upward climb are something in 



this order: Prompted to a clerkship 
in the auditor's office, he was at 
length placed in the general superin- 
tendent's office on the same line ; next 
he is heard of as secretary of the 
general manager of the Missouri Pa- 
cific railroad, and in 1886 he was 
made assistant general manager of 
the Wabash, St. Louis & Pacific rail- 
road; three years later he was ap- 
pointed general manager of the 
Wabash & Western railroad, and was 
afterward made manager of the 
Wabash system, which was the out- 
come of the consolidation of the 
Wabash Western and Wabash rail- 
roads. He has also been general 
manager of the Grand Trunk system, 
and, as already intimated, was, until 
recently, the president of the South- 
ern railroad. When Mr. Hays took 
hold of the Wabash lines they were 
in about as bad a condition as railroad 
lines can be. The same remark ap- 
plies to the Grand Trunk system. 
When Mr. Hays severed his connec- 
tion with these corporations they 
were in a flourishing condition — pop- 
ular with the public and paying as to 
dividends. He created their prosper- 
ity by the industrious exercise of his 
special talents. The lesson may be 
taken to heart. 

John B. Herreshoff. 

The person who is handicapped in 
the struggle for existence by physical 
infirmities excites our sympathy, but 
when such an one achieves as well as 
or far better than the normal individ- 
ual, we regard him with an admira- 
tion that is akin to wonder. John B. 
Herreshoff. the famous blind yacht 
and boat designer, is such an individ- 
ual. He is a marvel such as the 
world has never seen before, and is 
not likely to witness for some time 
to come. He is the admitted head of 
a profession which as one would be- 
lieve calls for keen eyes as a prelimi- 



502 



The Romance of Reality. 



nary. Yet Mr. Herreshoff has set all 
precedent at naught. It would almost 
seem that his blindness, so far from 
being a handicap, is of positive value 
to him, for it is certain that those 
exquisite floating creations of his, 
have never yet been duplicated by the 
owners of eyesight. When, in Au- 
gust, 1851, the America won the fa- 
mous "Queen's Cup," which has ever 
since remained on this side of the 
water, two youngsters were playing 
on a farm at Point Pleasant, at Bris- 
tol, Rhode Island. John, the oldest, 
was then a blue-eyed boy of ten. As 
soon as he could use a knife he began 
to whittle boats, and when fourteen 
years of age built a usable craft, 
which was said to be a marvel of 
beauty by local experts. At fifteen, 
blindness descended upon him. but he 
nevertheless continued to study boats 
and build them. His younger brother, 
Nathaniel, also had a love for boats, 
and together the two brothers lived 
and ruled and had their being in an 
atmosphere of boats. Both boys were 
educated at local schools, and John, 
with the assistance of his mother, 
managed to keep pace with his fellow 
pupils. Nathaniel became a civil en- 
gineer and made a name for himself 
in his profession. In the meantime 
the reputation of John had so ex- 
tended that in 1863 he founded the 
Herreshoff Manufacturing Co., and 
fourteen years later Nathaniel became 
a partner in the concern and is now 
its superintendent. The fame of the 
Herreshoffs is perhaps best known 
to the public in connection with their 
construction of several of the defen- 
ders of the "Queens," or, as it is bet- 
ter known on this side of the water, 
"The America Cup." John B. Herres- 
hoff, on being asked what the ele- 
ments of success are, said : "Con- 
centration, decision, industry, econ- 
omy, together with an invincible de- 
termination and persistence, will al- 



ways place a man in the position 
which he desires." 

Lewis Ni.xon. 

"Four letters sum up my idea of 
how to make a success in life; they 
are W-O-R-K (work)." These are 
the sentiments of Lewis Nixon, who 
starting life as a poor boy, has by 
sheer determination won social posi- 
tion, fame, wealth and political honor 
before he was forty. His story is a 
simple one, but none the less helpful. 
Born in Leesburg, Virginia, April 
7, 1861, he was the son of Joel Lewis 
and Mary Frances (Turner) Nixon. 
His parents were in poor circum- 
stances. His diligence in the public 
schools interested General Eppa Hun- 
ton (then representative from Vir- 
ginia), who secured for him an ap- 
pointment to the United States Naval 
academy at Annapolis as midshipman, 
and in 1862 he graduated at the head 
of his class. Going to England, he 
took a course in naval architecture 
and marine engineering. Upon re- 
turning to this country, he was ap- 
pointed to the staff of the chief con- 
structor of the navy and served as 
superintendent of construction at the 
Cramp yards and the New York na\'y 
yard. In 1890 he designed, in ninety 
days, the battleships Indiana, the 
Massachusetts and the Oregon, .\fter 
resigning from the navy department, 
he became superintending constructor 
of the Cramps' yard. Philadelphia, 
but soon after resigned that position 
and opened a shipyard of his own at 
Elizabeth, New Jersey. He has built 
the gunboats Annapolis, Josephine, 
Mangro and others, besides the sub- 
marine torpedo boat Holland. He 
was married in Washington, January 
29. 1891, to Sallie Lewis Wood. Mr. 
Nixon is a member of the New Eng- 
land organization of architects and 
marine engineers, the chamber of 
commerce, and is a member of the 



503 



Encyclopedic Biographies, or 



Democratic club, Press club, Army 
and Navy club of Washington and 
others. He takes an active part in 
Democratic politics. 

John H. Patterson. 

John H. Patterson, the president of 
the International Cash Register Co., 
of Dayton, Ohio, is a specimen of 
what, happily for this country, is not 
an infrequent young American, whose 
original capital being that of brains 
and industry, pays interest in the 
shape of great enterprises and a large 
fortune. Mr. Patterson's parents were 
farmers. After a public school edu- 
cation he went to Miami imiversity, 
and afterward to Dartmouth college. 
On graduating he began life without 
any definite plans, clerked, saved 
money and pushed ahead until he be- 
came manager of a coal mine. It 
was while he was holding this posi- 
tion that he heard of the then almost 
unknown cash register, bought two of 
them and saw that there was a field 
for their development and use. To- 
gether with his brother, Frank R. 
Patterson, he bought the patent of 
the machine and began to manufac- 



ture the registers. In 1894, after ten 
years of effort, and with success ap- 
parently in sight, the brothers were 
confronted with the complete failure 
of one of their new inventions and 
the return from England of a carload 
of broken machines, instead of an ex- 
pected draft for $30,000. Nothing 
daunted, Mr. Patterson began to ana- 
lyze the causes of the setback and 
came to the conclusion that the suc- 
cessful manufacture of the machines 
depended on the faithfulness of his 
workmen, which had to rest upon the 
mutual goodwill of employer and em- 
ploye. This belief led him to adopt 
an industrial system which is proba- 
bly unique in the annals of manufac- 
turing enterprises. Briefly, it con- 
sists of developing the mechanical 
talents of the workmen by prizes and 
promotions ; by making schools, clubs, 
libraries, choral societies and the like 
a part of the economy of the factory 
and by remembering that all work 
makes Jack and his bosses very dull 
boys indeed. That the principle is a 
sound one seems to be certain, if one 
may judge by the general use of the 
Patterson cash register. 



MANUFACTURERS. 



Hugh Chisholm. 

The individual who begins life as 
a poor newsboy, and in the full 
flush of his manhood is found to be 
the head of an industry created by 
himself in which untold millions are 
invested, and which is of supreme 
importance to the community, serves 
his generation in more ways than one. 
If he has done nothing else he has 
acted as an exemplar for the faint- 
hearted, as a beacon for the perse- 
vering, and as a type of American 
manhood, and all that lies before it. 
Such an individual is Hugh Chis- 
holm, who has brought into existence 

504 



a corporation which is making paper 
for nearly all the newspapers of the 
United States. When it is said that 
one New York newspaper buys six 
thousand dollars worth of paper every 
day. some idea may be gained of the 
vast proportions of the industry. Mr. 
Chisholm was born at Niagara-on- 
the-Lake, Canada, May 2, 1847, and 
began life as a train newsboy on the 
Grand Trunk railroad, studying 
meanwhile in evening classes of busi- 
ness colleges in Toronto. When the 
Civil war broke out, the lad, who is 
of Scotch descent, with the shrewd- 
ness of his race, realized the possi- 



The Romance of Reality. 



bilities of the situation and puslied 
his wares to the utmost, sometimes 
holding them at a premium. He at 
length was able to hire some other 
boys to sell newspapers for him. He 
next obtained from the railroad com- 
pany the exclusive right to sell news- 
papers on the division east of Toron- 
to. He extended his "combinations," 
and when he was twenty-five years 
of age had the exclusive news routes 
over four thousand miles of railroad, 
and had two hundred and fifty men 
on his payroll. Selling out his inter- 
ests to his brothers, who had similar 
interests in New England, he pur- 
chased the latter and located in Port- 
land, ]\Iaine, where he added pub- 
lishing to his business. Foreseeing a 
growth of the newspaper trade, and 
realizing that there would be a huge 
consequent demand for white paper, 
he organized the Somerset Fiber 
Company, the manufacturing of wood 
pulp at Fairfield. Later he estab- 
lished a number of pulp mills in 
Maine. Next he devised a plan of 
business consolidations and a few 
years ago the Chisholm properties and 
a score of other mills in New Eng- 
land, New York and Canada were 
merged into one company. The out- 
put of the mills is more than 1.500 
tons per day and is increasing rapid- 
ly. In 1872 he married Henrietta 
Mason, of Portland. 

Theodore Lowe De Vinne. 

From a country printer boy to the 
head of one of the greatest printing 
establishments in the metropolis — 
this in brief is the story of the career 
of Theodore Lowe De Vinne. He 
was born in Stamford, Connecticut, 
December 25. 1828, being the second 
son of Daniel and Joanna Augusta 
De Vinne. His parents were of Hol- 
land extraction. His father was a 
Methodist minister, who was an un- 
compromising opponent of slavery. 



Theodore secured a common school 
education at Catskill, White Plains, 
and Amenia, New York, and at the 
age of fourteen entered the office of 
the Gazette, Newburgh, New York, 
to learn the printing trade. After he 
had gotten a general knowledge of 
the business he went to New York 
city in 1848. Two years later he ob- 
tained employment in the establish- 
ment of Francis Hart & Co. and rose 
to the position of foreman. In 1858 
he became a junior partner in the 
firm and five years after the death 
of Mr. Hart, which took place in 
1883, he changed the name of the 
firm to Theodore L. De Vinne & Co., 
making his only son, Theodore L. 
De Vinne, Jr., his partner. He now 
occupies one of the largest buildings 
in the United States, which is wholly 
devoted to the printing business. Mr. 
De Vinne has inarked ability as an 
organizer, having, with the assistance 
of the late Peter C. Baker, formed 
the society now known as the Typo- 
thetse. In 1850 he married Grace, 
daughter of Joseph Brockbant. He 
is the author of the Printers' Price 
List. The Invention of Printing, His- 
toric Types and Printing Types. Mr. 
De Vinne has done much to elevate 
the sitandard of typography. As early 
as 1863 the American institute award- 
ed his firm a medal for the best book 
printing. The firm has published St. 
Nicholas and the Century since 1874. 

William Louis Douglas. 

William Louis Douglas, of Brock- 
ton, Massachusetts, who, through the 
medium of his widely advertised 
shoes, is probably one of the most 
easily recognized men in the United 
States, was born in Plymouth, Mas- 
sachusetts. August 22, 1845. The 
career of Mr. Douglas emphasizes the 
fact that the days of opportunity for 
young men without money or influ- 
ence are by no means over. .He was 



505 



Encyclopedic Biographies, or 



an orphan, handicapped by lack of 
schooling, a victim of injustice and 
apparently without any prospects in 
life whatever. Now he is the owner 
of a vast fortune, a great business, an 
honorable place among honored men, 
and has influence for good in labor- 
ing circles, and no small power polit- 
ically. When Mr. Douglas was five 
years of age, his father was lost at 
sea. At the age of seven he was ap- 
prenticed to his uncle to learn the 
shoemaking trade. The uncle proved 
to be a hard taskmaster, and at the 
expiration of his apprenticeship Will- <-harles Eastman, 



enacted in the state legislature of 
Massachusetts for the establishment 
of a board of arbitration and concilia- 
tion. Labor troubles are practically 
unknown in the Douglas factory. Mr. 
Douglas is also the author of the 
weekly payment law that observes in 
Massachusetts, is president of the 
peopk's savings bank of Brockton, a 
director in the Home national bank 
and ex-president of the Brockton, 
Taunton & Bridgewater street rail- 
road. 



iam found himself the owner of just 
ten dollars and remembrances of 
many hard knocks. Subsequently he 
tried several ways of getting a liveli- 
hood, from driving ox teams in Ne- 
braska to working at his trade. In 
conjunction with a Mr. Studley, he 
opened a boot store at Golden, Colo- 
rado. The venture did not pay, and 
returning to Massachusetts he took 
to shoemaking again until 1870, when 
he removed to Brockton to become 
superintendent of the shoe factory of 
Porter & Southworth. In 18761, with 
a borrowed capital of $375, he went 
into business for himself. Successful 
from the start, he, six years later, 
built a four-story factory, which had 
a capacity of 1,440 pairs of boots 
daily. _ In 1884 he placed on the mar- 
ket_ his well-known $3 shoe, with 
which his name and his face are so 
prominently identified. He has 
broken away from the old traditions 
of manufacturers by establishing re- 
tail stores, where he sells direct to 
the public. The Douglas factory of 
to-day was erected in 1892, and has 



Charles Eastman was born at 
Waterville, New York, July 12, 1854. 
Photographers, especially amateurs, 
need not be told who Mr. Eastman 
is, inasmuch as he has done much to 
popularize the camera and all that to 
it belongs. He was educated at 
Rochester, New York. Becoming in- 
terested in amateur photography, he 
began a source of exhausted experi- 
ments to the end of making dry plates 
and secured results which prompted 
him to make further investigations. 
These latter were successful also, and 
from this preliminary work rose the 
great business with which he is now 
identified. The kodak, which is prob- 
ably the most popular of cameras in 
the world, is his invention also. He 
is manager of the Eastman Kodak 
Company, of Rochester, and of Lon- 
don, England ; president of the Gen- 
eral Aristo Company, of Rochester, 
and is the head of the so-called cam- 
era trust. Mr. Eastman is a member 
of inany social and scientific organi- 
zations, and gives liberally to charita- 
ble institutions. 



a capacity of 10,240 pairs of boots 

daily. There are 2,724 employes. Mr. Albert August Pope. 



Douglas is Democratic in politics. He 
has been a member of the common 
council of Brockton several times and 
was its mayor in 1890. It was 
through his efforts that a bill was 



The name of Colonel Albert Au- 
gust Pope is identified with the popu- 
larizing of the bicycle in this country, 
for he it was who, more than any 
other, gave it the impetus which 



506 



The Roiii;ince of Reality. 



made it a prime favorite with the 
pubhc. Apart from that, however, he 
has furnished us with yet anotlier 
example of the power of push, perse- 
verance and probity. Colonel Pope 
was born in Boston^ May lo, 1843, of 
poor parents. He had to leave school 
early in life in order to earn a liveli- 
hood. When ten years of age he 
peddled fruit, and it is said by per- 
sons who knew him in those days 
that he made it a rule to pay every 
debt as soon as it was due. After 
years of hard work young Pope, then 
nineteen, accepted a junior second 
lieutenancy in Company I, of the 
Thirty-sixth Massachusetts Volun- 
teers. His record during the war 
was most brilliant, and he came out 
of it with the rank of colonel. He 
then went into business for himself 
and built up a profitable trade. It 
was in the centennial exposition in 
1876 that he first saw a bicycle. Re- 
alizing the future of the machine, he 
in 1877 placed an order for "an im- 
portation of English wheels." In 
the same year he organi ed the Pope 
^Manufacturing Company. The vast 
nature of the business done by the 
corporation is a matter of familiarity 
to all those who were or are inter- 
ested in bicycles. He also founded 
the publication entitled The Wheel- 
man, putting upward of sixty thou- 
sand dollars in the enterprise. It is 
known todav under the name of Out- 
ing. It was mainly through his ef- 
forts that public parks and boulevards 
were thrown open to the uses of 
bicycles, and that the machine was 
put upon the same footing as any 
other vehicle. When the bicycle in- 
terest began to wane, Colonel Pope 
turned his attention to the manufac- 
ture of automobiles. He also has a 
large interest in banks and other cor- 
nnrations. He .'s a member of the 
Loyal Legion and a visitor to Welles- 
ley college, and the Lawrence scien- 



tific school. In 1871 he married Ab- 
bie Lyndon, of Newton, Mass. 

C. W. Post. 

The name of C. W. Post is identi- 
fied with an industry that has only 
come into existence within the past 
few years, but which, nevertheless, 
has assumed tremendous proportions, 
and is remarkable in many ways, not 
the least of which is that it puts 
cereals to uses which were absolutely 
unknown a generation ago. Postum 
cereal coffee, for example, has only 
been before the public since 1895. Yet 
recently Mr. Post and his associates 
declined an offer of ten millions of 
dollars for the factories which made 
the coffee and its associated products 
of the wheat field. Mr. Post's life 
story is that of a boy with a light 
purse, boundless ambition and a de- 
termination to reach the goal of large 
successes. He was born October 26, 
1854, in Springfield, Illinois. After a 
common school education he entered 
the University of Illinois when thir- 
teen years of age, took a military 
course, and remained there until he 
was fifteen, wdien the spirit of inde- 
pendence which has been a char- 
acteristic of his career throughout as- 
serted itself. To use his own words, 
"I became weary of depending on 
my father's money." Leaving the 
university, he obtained a position with 
a manufacturer of farm machinery, 
which he sold and put in operation 
for the purchasers. After a couple 
of years of this work, he began busi- 
ness for himself in coniunction with 
a partner in the appropriately named 
town of Independence. Kansas. The 
firm dealt in hardware and farm ma- 
chinery. But too little capital ham- 
pered his efforts, so he sold out and 
again took up drumming. Later he 
became manager of a wholesale ma- 
chinery house in Kansas City. Re- 
turning to Illinois, he organized a 



507 



Encyclopedic Biographies, or 



company for the manufacturing of 
plows and cultivators, was quite suc- 
cessful, but his health breaking down, 
chaos resulted, and he lost all his 
savings. After dabbling in real es- 
tate in California, he ranched in 
Texas, fell ill again, recovered, and 
then bought twenty-seven acres of 
ground at Battle Creek, Michigan. 
Here it was that he began to make 
the famous coffee,, to which allusion 
has been made. Here, too, he ex- 
perimented with prepared, and finally 
placed upon the market those cooked 
and semi-cooked cereal foods with 
which we are familiar at the break- 
fast-table. The first year that the 
Post products were before the public, 
there was a profit of $175,000, the 
second year showed a loss of over 
$40,000 — this being due to profits be- 
ing sunk in advertising — and the 
third year there was a clear gain of 
$384,000. From that time on the 
business has been most profitable. It 
is stated that the concern is now pre- 
paring to spend one million dollars a 
year for advertising. Two years ago 
Mr. Post retired from the active con- 
duct of the concern. He now divides 
his time between the offices in this 
country and abroad, and the chain of 
factories in the west. He is president 
of the association of American ad- 
vertisers, and maintains at his own 
expense the Post check currency bu- 
reau at Washington, 

John Wilson Wheeler. 

John Wilson Wheeler, whose name 
is familiar to every housewife who 
owns or wants to own a sewing ma- 
chine, was born in Orange, Franklin 
county, Massachusetts, November 20, 
1832, being the second of nine chil- 
dren. He was the son of a carpenter- 
farmer, and was educated in a dis- 
trict school. When about fourteen 
years of age he began to follow the 
trade of his father, and continued to 



do so until he was twenty-three years 
old. But he was not satisfied with 
his narrow surroundings, and so 
when the opportunity came for him 
to accept a place in a little grocery 
store in Fitchburg at one hundred 
and twenty-five dollars a year and his 
board he gladly accepted it. Return- 
ing to Orange some time later, he 
became a clerk in the store of one 
Daniel Pomeroy, finally succeeding 
the latter in the business, which he 
conducted for three years longer. 
Selling out, he became clerk in the 
claim agency of D. E. Cheney, one of 
the leading men of the village. By 
this time he had established a reputa- 
tion for ability and integrity, and so 
it came about that Mr. Cheney and 
another of his friends loaned him 
two thousand dollars on his personal 
security to buy a grocery store. The 
venture was successful and was only 
given up in 1867, in order that Mr. 
Wheeler might become a partner in 
the firm of A. E. Johnson & Co. that 
had just started in a small way to 
make sewing machines. After some 
years of struggling the firm was turn- 
ed into a corporation under the name 
of the Gold Medal Sewing Machine 
Company, Mr. Wheeler being secre- 
tary and treasurer. In 1882 the name 
was again changed to that of the New 
Home Sewing Machine Company. Of 
this corporation Mr. Wheeler was 
vice-president, as well as secretary 
and treasurer. He later became pres- 
ident, but subsequently resigned, but 
retained the office of treasurer, as well 
as being a member of the board of 
directors. How the business has 
grown from small beginnings to its 
present extensive status is a story 
that is familiar to everyone who 
knows somewhat of the sewing ma- 
chine industry. The company em- 
ploys nearly six hundred men and 
turns out about four hundred ma- 
chines daily. Mr. Wheeler is also 



5:08 



The Romance ot Reality. 



president of the Orange savings bank 
and of the Orange national bank, and 
has been president of the Orange 
Power company and the Orange 
board of trade. He has furthermore 
held office with the Boston mutual 
life insurance company, is the direc- 
tor of the Athol and Orange City 
railway company, is president of the 



Leabitt Machine company, of the 
Orange good go\-emment club and 
is vice-president of the Home Market 
club. He married AJmira E. John- 
son, by whom he had three daugh- 
ters, only one of whom sunives. He 
is the owner of much real estate, and 
is erecting a mansion near Orange at 
the cost of Si50,ooo. 



TRANSPORTATION LEADERS. 



George F. B.^-er. 

George F Baer, when a boy, work- 
ed on his father's farm in Somerset 
count}', Pennsylvania. He was re- 
cently chosen president of the Phila- 
delphia & Reading and Xew Jersej- 
Central railroad systems, two of the 
most important transportation cor- 
porations in the country. He is also 
identified with many enterprises of a 
diversified and extensive nature. He 
is still in the prime of life, and the 
secret of his so attaining is an open 
one — he did not waste time. Young 
Baer attended school for but a few- 
years, and then entered the office of 
the Somerset Democrat to learn the 
printing trade. But he did not per- 
mit himself to retrograde in his stud- 
ies, but instead pored over books and 
practiced writing at night. When 
sixteen years of age he managed to 
get a year's tuition in the Somerset 
academy and afterward secured a 
position as clerk in the Ashtola Mills, 
near Johnstown. Pennsylvania. At 
the end of twelve months he was 
made chief clerk. Resigning, he en- 
tered the sophomore class at Frank- 
lin and Marshall colleges. Next, and 
in conjunction with his older brother, 
he bought the Democrat Then the 
war broke out and the brother enlist- 
ed. Mr. Baer. then hardly nineteen 
years of age, ran the paper alone. In 
1862 he. too. got the war spirit and 
went to the front. He was mustered 



ou: :n 18*^3 ar.d forthwith began to 
read law with his two brothers. After 
practicing in Somerset for four years, 
he went to Reading, where he was 
retained by the attorney of certain 
railroads that were trj-ing to com- 
pete with the Philadelphia & Reading 
railroad. The opposing company 
finally decided that he was worth 
more for them than against them and 
so made him its legal adviser. From 
that time up to his election as presi- 
dent of the corporation he had been 
its solicitor. He is also interested in 
coal mines, paper manufacture, banks 
and insurance corporations, is mar- 
ried and has five daughters. 

Peeby Belmoxt. 

Perry Belmont, the oldest son of 
the late .August Belmotrt, was bom in 
N'ew York, December 2S, 185 1. He 
graduated from Harvard in 1872, and 
ha\-ing an inclination for the law, en- 
tered the Columbia law school com- 
pleting his course there in 1876, and 
was admitted to the bar the same 
year. He practiced until 1881, when 
he gave himself over altogether to 
political affairs and interests, which 
he had acquired in a number of en- 
terprises. Thanks to the active part 
which he had taken in, and the liberal 
support which he had accorded to the 
Democratic cause in N'ew York, he 
was in 1880 elected member of con- 
gress, which office he held until iffi7, 



509 



Encyclopedic Biographies, or 



when he was made United States 
minister to Spain. Returning to this 
country he ventured into journalism 
through the medium of the monthly 
magazine published in New York, 
known as the Verdict. The second 
efifort on his part to return to con- 
gress not being successful, Mr. Bel- 
mont became interested in financial 
afifairs. There are indications that 
in the not far distant future he may 
become prominently identified with 
the development of electric railroad 
lines. 

Alexander Johnston Cassatt. 

Another railroad man who has 
risen from a place of obscurity to a 
position of prominence is Alexander 
Johnston Cassatt, who has been presi- 
dent of the Pennsylvania railroad 
company since June, 1899. Like 
George H. Daniels, of the New York 
Central railroad, he started life as a 
rodman^ in 1861, in the employ of the 
corporation of which he is now the 
head. Mr. Cassatt preferred to begin 
at the foot of the ladder for the sake 
of the knowledge of the primary de- 
tails of the business which his so do- 
ing gave him, instead of making use 
of the influence as he probably could 
have obtained in order to assure him 
a less humble position. He was born 
in Pittsburg, December 8, 1839, and 
was educated at the University of 
Heidelberg and the Rensselaer Poly- 
technique institute. After his experi- 
ences as rodman, by force of sheer 
industry and integrity, he rose from 
place to place until, in 1871, he was 
made general superintendent of the 
Pennsylvania system and general 
manager of the lines east of Pitts- 
burg. Between 1874 Jind 1882 he 
held the offices of third vice-presi- 
dent and second vice-president, was 
elected director in 1883 and was made 
president of the road in 1899. "Thor- 
oughly ground yourself in the ele- 



mentaries of your chosen business, 
and then stick to it," is Mr. Cas- 
satt's advice to young men. He is a 
thorough believer in the old axiom 
that "a rolling stone gathers no 
moss." 

George Henry Daniels. 

George Henry Daniels, who in his 
capacity of general passenger agent of 
the New York Central and Hudson 
River railroad, is probably better 
known personally or by repute to the 
traveling public, than any other man 
in this country, was born in Hamp- 
shire, Kane county, Illinois,, Decem- 
ber I, 1842. He began his railroad 
career as a rodman in the engineer- 
ing corps of the Northern Missouri 
railroads, and from that humble posi- 
tion has risen, not rapidly perhaps, 
but slowly and certainly, until he has 
the passenger transportation responsi- 
bilities on his hands of what is proba- 
bly the greatest railroad in the 
United States. After some years of 
strenuous work, he became, in 1872, 
the general freight and passenger 
agent of the Chicago and Pacific rail- 
road, and in 1880 was made ticket 
agent of the Wabash, St. Louis and 
Pacific road. After a number of va- 
ried experiences, all of which were 
in the west, and were connected with 
positions of great responsibility, he 
acted as assistant commissioner or 
commissioner for several roads, and 
in April, 1889. was rewarded for his 
years of faithful service by being ap- 
pointed to the position which he now 
holds. No small portion of Mr. Dan- 
iels's success is due to his personal 
tactfulness and unfailing courtesy; or, 
as someone has put it. he knows how 
to grant a favor without placing the 
grantee under an obligation, and he 
knows how to refuse a request with- 
out offending the individual who 
makes it. 



510 



The Romance of Reality. 



George Jay Gould. 

George Jay Gould, whose name is 
so generally identified with high 
finance, is the son of the late Jay and 
Helen Day (Miller J Gould. He was 
born in New York in 1858 and re- 
ceived his education at the hands of 
private tutors or in private schools. 
Inheriting a genius for finance and an 
instinct for railroading, he has suc- 
ceeded in successfully conducting 
those vast enterprises and investments 
which were brought into existence by 
his father. Mr. Gould is an ardent 
devotee of field sports, particularly 
those of which horses are a part and 
portion. He married Miss Edith 
Kingdon, who was at one time a 
member of Augustin Daly's Dramatic 
Company in this city. By her he has 
two sons, both of whom are as fond 
of strenuous sports as is their father. 
Nevertheless he does not permit his 
pastimes to interfere with his busi- 
ness affairs, and is a familiar figure 
in the financial districts of New York 
City. He has been president of the 
Little Rock and Fort Worth railroad. 
Texas and Pacific railroad, Interna- 
tional and Great Northern railroad, 
Manhattan Elevated railroad, Mis- 
souri Pacific railroad, and the Sl 
Louis and Iron Mountain and South- 
ern railroad. Mr. Gould is a good 
specimen of the young American who 
does not let his great wealth hamper 
his activities. 

Clemext Acton' Griscom. 

The placing of young men in posi- 
tions of extreme responsibilit>' seems 
to be peculiar to this countrv'. Abroad 
such positions are usually held by 
persons of mature or advanced years. 
That the commercial world of Amer- 
ica does not suflFer from its departure 
from European customs in the re- 
spect cited is evidenced by its com- 
mercial and mercantile progress. Qe- 
ment Acton Griscom, Jr., manager of 



the great American line of steamers 
is a case in point. He was born in 
1868 and graduated from the Univer- 
sity of Pennsylvania in 1887. His 
father is Clement Acton Griscom, Sr., 
president of the line. Griscom, the 
manager, entered the ser\-ice of the 
company the day following his last 
examination at college and two weeks 
before he received his diploma. He 
first worked as office boy in the 
freight department at a salar>- of S3.00 
per week, and, as the storj' goes, al- 
though a college graduate and the 
son of the president, the other em- 
ployes treated him exactly as they did 
the other boys. His business prog- 
ress then was something in this or- 
der: junior clerk at $5.00 per week; 
junior clerk in the passenger depart- 
ment, $7.00 per week; clerk in the 
ticket department, dock clerk from 7 
a. m. until 6 p. m., assistant to the 
manager of the Chicago office, assis- 
tant to the general manager in New 
York, super\-isor at the head of the 
purchasing board steward depart- 
ments, and finally manager. It will 
be seen that young Griscom had to 
"hoe his own row" completely, and, 
although at the time he, like the ordi- 
nary' boy. objected to so doing, he 
now recognizes the wisdom of his 
father in compelling him to learn all 
there was to be learned. Under Mr. 
Griscom's management, the American 
Line flourishes. He is also president 
of the James Riley repair and supply 
company, a director of the Maritime 
Exchange and is interested in a num- 
ber of other enterprises. He married 
the daughter of General William Lud- 
low, and his friends say that his 
home life has had a determining in- 
fluence on his career in general. 

J.\MES J. Hnx. 

Intimates of James J. Hill, the 
transportation giant of the northwest, 
say that the ambition of his life is to 



51 



Encyclopedic Biographies, or 



encircle the world with a system of 
railroads and steamships, all of which 
shall be under his guiding hand. He 
has nearly attained it. He owns the 
Great Northern railway, which 
stretches from Seattle, Washington, 
to St. Paul and Duluth, Minnesota. 
He is proprietor of the line of steam- 
ers which ply between Duluth and 
Buffalo. He is largely interested in 
the Baltimore & Ohio railroad, which 
covers the territory between Chicago, 
Philadelphia and New York. He is 
organizing, in Europe, a steamship 
company whose vessels shall have for 
their terminal ports Seattle, Wash- 
ington, on the one side, and Vladivo- 
stok, Yokohama and Hong Kong on 
the other. He is now reaching out 
across the Pacific to Seattle, intend- 
ing to connect his Great Northern 
road with the Trans-Siberian road, 
and the man who controls all these 
huge enterprises earned them from 
humble beginnings, and asserts that 
the principle that has enabled him 
to reach power and affluence is simply 
that of economy. When he earned 
five dollars a week he saved ; now 
that he is the owner of an income the 
size of which he can hardly pass upon, 
he saves, not in miserly fashion, but 
he detests unnecessary expenditure. 
Mr. Hill was born nearGuelph, Upper 
Canada, September i6, 1838. He was 
educated at Rockwood academy and 
started life in a steamboat office in 
St. Paul, Minnesota. Hard and con- 
tinuous work brought its reward in 
the shape of his being made agent for 
the Northwestern Packet company in 
1865. Then he branched out for him- 
self, establishing a fuel and transpor- 
tation business on his own account. 
From that time on his rise was rapid. 
He founded the Red River Transpor- 
tation company, 1875 ; organized the 
syndicate which secured control of the 
St. Paul and Pacific railroad, became 
the president of the organized road 



and finally merged it with other lines 
into the Great Northern system of 
which he is now president. Mr. Hill 
is married and has several sons, all 
of whom are following the railroad 
business. 

Melville Ezra Ingalls. 

One of the many railroad presi- 
dents who began life on a farm is 
Melville Ezra Ingalls. He was born 
at Harrison, Maine, September 6, 
1842. Brought up on his father's 
farm, he had his full share of hard 
work during boyhood. He was first 
educated at Burlington academy, later 
at Bowdoin college, and graduated 
from the Harvard law school in 1863. 
Establishing himself in practice in 
Gray, Maine, he soon found that the 
village was too small for his hopes 
and ambitions, so he removed to Bos- 
ton. There he became identified with 
political affairs and was elected a 
member of the Massachusetts senate 
in 1867. In 1870 he was made the 
president of the Indianapolis, Cincin- 
nati and Lafayette railroad, which 
was then in a bankrupt condition. A 
year later he was made receiver for 
the road. Then it was that Mr. In- 
galls' genius for railroading began to 
show itself. With the aid of the or- 
ganization in 1873 and 1880, he put 
the successor of the road, which was 
the Cincinnati, Indianapolis, St. Louis 
and Chicago, on a sound footing, sub- 
sequently consolidating it with other 
roads under its final title of the 
Cleveland, Cincinnati, Chicago and 
St. Louis railroad, now known as the 
"Big Four" system. Mr. Ingalls is 
president of the road, and up to Feb- 
ruary, 1900, was also president of the 
Chesapeake and Ohio railroad. Mr. 
Ingalls' successes have left him the 
same charitable, genial and approach- 
able individual that he was when a 
struggling lawyer in a little village in 
Maine. 

512 



The Romance of P».eality. 



INVENTORS. 



Alexander Graham Bell. 

Alexander Graham Bell, whose 
name is so clearly associated with the 
invention and the development of 
the telephone, was born in Edinburgh, 
Scotland, March 3, 1847. He was 
educated at the Edinburgh and Lon- 
don ui-iversities, and on graduating 
went to Canada in 1870, in which 
country he spent two years endeavor- 
ing to decide on a vocation. Later he 
located in Boston, where he became 
professor of vocal physiology at the 
Boston university. It was during this 
period that he became interested in 
and made an exhaustive series of ex- 
periments culminating in an applica- 
tion for a patent which was granted 
February 14, 1876. The history of the 
invention, which is second in impor- 
tance only to the electric telegraph, is 
well known to the public. Without 
going into details, it is only necessary 
to say that Mr. Bell, like all other 
successful inventors, had to face and 
overcome the popular prejudices,, and 
had to protect his rights in the courts 
through interminable law suits. The 
place that the telephone fills in the 
social and commercial economy of the 
world to-day is also too well known 
to need emphasis. Professor Bell is 
also the inventor of the photophone, 
and is interested in the current scien- 
tific efforts of the American associa- 
tion to promote the teaching of 
the deaf and dumb. Scientific honors 
have been showered upon him in con- 
nection with his inventions. In 1881 
the French government awarded him 
the Volta prize, and he is the founder 
of the Volta bureau. He is also the 
author of many scientific and educa- 
tional monographs. 

Charles Francis Brush. 

The development and general use 



of the "arc" electric light is to a very 
great extent the outcome of the re- 
searches of Charles F. Brush. While 
the "arc" was by no means unknown 
to electricians prior to Mr. Brush's 
development of it, it was he who was 
responsible for its becoming a com- 
mercial possibility. Mr. Brush was 
born in Euclidi. Cuyahoga county, 
Ohio, March 17, 1849. His father 
was Colonel Isaac Elbert Brush, his 
mother being Delia Wissner (Phil- 
lips) Brush. Both parents came from 
old lines of American families. After 
periods spent in public schools in 
Ohio, Mr. Brush attended the Cleve- 
land high school and graduated from 
the University of Michigan in 1869. 
From the first he displayed a fond- 
ness for electricity and chemistry, and 
subsequent to his graduating became 
an analytical chemist and consulting 
chemical expert in Cleveland. All 
this time, however, he was studying 
electricity, foreseeing the time when it 
would be one of the chief factors 
of modern civilization. In 1877 he 
devoted himself entirely to electrical 
affairs and a year later presented to 
the public the light with which his 
name is identified. In 1880 the Brush 
Electric Company was formed and 
the "arc" light grew in favor. A 
year later it was introduced into Eng- 
land and on the continent. Neverthe- 
less Mr. Brush had the usual experi- 
ence of inventors, but was successful 
in litigation and has the satisfaction 
of knowing that his claims of priority 
of invention have been recognized by 
the leading scientific societies in the 
world. He is interested in a number 
of electrical enterprises, is a member 
of many clubs and scientific and 
charitable institutions. In 1875 he 
married Mary E. Morris, of Cleve- 
land, by whom he has three children. 



513 



Encyclopedic Biographies, or 



Santos Dumont. 



Santos Dumont, who has attained 
world wide pubHcity in connection 
with his daring and novel experi- 
ments in aerostatics, is still a young 
man. He was born in Brazil in 1873 
and is of French ancestry, although 
his father was also a Brazilian by 
birth. The Santos Dumont planta- 
tions at San Paulo are said to be the 
largest in the country in question, so 
large indeed that a small railroad 
runs around it, which is used for the 
transportation of labor and products. 
At an early age Santos Dumont de- 
veloped a taste for mechanics and the 
railroad was his constant study and 
delight. When still a boy he was 
sent to France to be educated, and in 
that country, some thirteen years 
since, began to experiment with auto- 
mobiles, abandoning them, however, 
in 1893, for aerostatics. His first 
ascents were made in spherical bal- 
loons, but he quickly adopted those 
of cylindrical form. He has practi- 
cally invented the dirigible balloon of 
to-day through the medium of his 
ingenious arrangement of screws, rud- 
ders, motors, cars, shifting \teights, 
etc. He was the first to give up the 
net and attach his car to the balloon 
itself. On July 12, 1901. he sailed John P 
from St. Cloud to the Eififel Tower "^ 
and around in Paris. He has made 
over half a dozen machines and is en- 
gaged on others. During his experi- 
ments he has had more than one nar- 
row escape from death, but these 
have had little or no eflFect upon his 
nerve or his enthusiasm. 



Cooper, the philanthropist. Mr. 
Hewitt was born in New York city 
in 1861, his father being Abram Ste- 
vens Hewitt, who held the office of 
mayor of the metropolis from 1887 
to 1889. After being educated by 
private tutors, he entered the Colum- 
bia university. New York city, and 
on graduating therefrom studied for 
some years in a technical school in 
New Jersey. Afterward he became 
connected with the glue factory es- 
tablished by his grandfather and own- 
ed by his father. But that bent to- 
ward scientific investigations which 
seems to have been born in him, 
prompted him to devote himself to 
experimental work in the laboratory. 
A portion of the result of such work 
has already been alluded to. There 
are not wanting indications that the 
electric light devised by :\Ir. Hewitt 
will, to a very great extent, take the 
place of that now furnished by the 
arc or incandescent filament. It is 
described as "soft sunlight." Mr. 
Hewitt is married, his wife being 
Lucy, daughter of the late Frank 
Work. He is popular socially, and his 
private charities prove that he has 
inherited his grandfather's great- 
heartedness to no small degree. 



Peter Cooper Hewitt. 

Peter C. Hewitt— who is much in 
the eye of the scientific world by rea- 
son of his invention of an electric 
"convertor" and his discovery of a 
wonderful method of electric light- 
ing—is the grandson of the late Peter 



Holland. 
John P. Holland, the inventor of 
the submarine boat which bears his 
name, is an Irishman by birth. He 
is now about sixty years of age. hale, 
hearty and devoted to the task of 
improving the wonderful craft of 
which he is the creator. Mr. Holland 
reached this country early in the 70's, 
but long before that he had come to 
the conclusion that much of the naval 
warfare of the future would be done 
beneath the water rather than on its 
surface. He states that his convictions 
in this respect were the outcome of a 
newspaper account of the fight be- 
tween the I\Ionitor and Merrimac, 



514 



The Romance of Reality. 



which he read about two weeks after 
the occurrence of that historical con- 
flict. From that time on, he began to 
form plans and make models for sub- 
marine torpedo boats or destroyers. 
He not only had to contend with 
great mechanical difficulties, but even 
when his boat was so far perfected 
that it could be submitted to the 
authorities, he encountered prejudices 
and opposition of the strongest. As 
the matter now stands, the most con- 
servative of naval experts have be- 
come convinced of the importance of 
the Holland submarine, that, too, not 
only in this country but abroad. The 
United States now" owns a number 
of the boats, as does Great Britain. 
Mr. Holland, when he first came to 
this country, was a school teacher, 
and, like the majority of inventors 
who are not capitalists, had a hard 
time of it for many years. He was 
at length fortunate enough to inter- 
est some moneyed men in his inven- 
tion and was enabled to devote him- 
self entirely to it. It is said that his 
creations provide for every contin- 
gency, both above and below water. 
It was only after prolonged tests of 
their efficiency that the U. S. govern- 
ment added them to the navy. 

William Marconi. 

This is em.inently the age of young 
men, and William Marconi is a case 
in point. He was born at Marza- 
botto, Italy. September 23, 1875, his 
father being an Italian and his mother 
an Englishwoman. After being edu- 
cated at the universities of Bologna 
and Padua, he, at a very early age, 
began to evidence a liking for scien- 
tific pursuits. Happily for the world 
at large, Marconi's father was so 
placed financially that he could per- 
mit of his son following his inclina- 
tions to the utmost, .\fter some pre- 
liminary work, young Marconi insti- 
tuted a series of experiments in or- 



der to test the theory, which at that 
time was a theory only, that electric 
currents under certain conditions are 
able to pass through any known sub- 
stance. The result was that when 
but fifteen years of age he invented 
an apparatus for wireless telegraphy, 
which attracted the attention of Sir 
William Henry Preece, engineer and 
electrician-in-chief of the English 
postal service. The apparatus was 
tested in England and with success. 
For the next few years Marconi was 
engaged in perfecting his system. 
Public attention was called to his fur- 
ther successes in 1897 by messages 
being sent from Queen Victoria on 
land to the Prince of Wales (now 
King Edward), some miles distant 
on the Royal yacht. Later the Brit- 
ish government engaged Marconi to 
install a number of wireless stations 
around the southern coast of Eng- 
land, and from that time on, wireless 
telegraphy has become an accepted 
fact with civilized governments all 
the world over. He came to this 
country in 1889, where he made more 
experiments and organized and in- 
corporated a company for the com- 
mercial use of his methods. At the 
present writing messages have been 
successfully sent between England 
and America, a greater number of 
liners are equipped with the Marconi 
apparatus, and the same remark ap- 
plies to the warships of the United 
States and European powers. 

George Westing house. 

George Westinghouse was born at 
Central Bridge, New York. Octobir 
6, 1846. Ten years later his parents 
removed to Schenectady, where he 
was educated in the public and high 
schools, spending much of his time in 
his father's machine-shop. During 
the Civil war he served in the Union 
army. At its close he attended Union 
college, Schenectady, for two years. 



S^S 



Encyclopedic Biographies, or 



In 1865 he invented the device for re- 
placing railroad cars on the track. 
In 1868 he invented and successfully 
introduced the Westinghouse air- 
brake. From time to time he has 
modified and improved this, one of 
the most notable of his inventions. 
He is also the inventor of many other 
devices connected with railroads, 
such as signals, automatic and other- 
wise, electric devices of several sorts 
and other things which make for the 
efficiency of transportation in gen- 
eral. He is the president of twelve 
corporations, a member of many 
scientific societies, and is also the re- 



cipient of medals and decorations 
from the king of Italy, the king of 
Belgium and other European nota- 
bles. It is not too much to say that 
without the Westinghouse inventions 
railroading as we know of it to-day 
would hardly be possible. Apart from 
adding much to the safety of railroad 
travel, the Westinghouse brake per- 
mits paradoxically enough of speeds 
being attained which would not be 
possible under old-time conditions. 
Mr. Westinghouse's inventive genius 
has been largely rewarded in a finan- 
cial manner. 



MERCHANTS. 



Edward Cooper. 

Edward Cooper, one of the more 
prominent merchants of New York, 
was born October 26th, 1824. He is 
the son of Peter Cooper, the philan- 
thropist, and, like his father, has, 
during the course of a busy life, 
done much for the well being of the 
people of the municipality in which 
he lives. Mr. Cooper was educated 
in New York public schools and is a 
giraduate of Columbia university. 
Throughout his life he has been more 
or less active in New York political 
afifairs, and, while a consistent Demo- 
crat, has had no hesitation in put- 
ting principle before party. He was 
one of the leaders of the successful 
movement which overthrew the infa- 
mous Tweed ring. From 1879 to 
1881 he was mayor of New York and 
added to his reputation by the hon- 
esty and energy of his administra- 
tion. Mr. Cooper is associated with 
his brother-in-law, Abram S. Hewitt, 
in the conduct of the Trenton Iron 
Works, New Jersey Steel Works and 
other enterprises of a like nature. He 
is a good example of the man who 
does not permit his business affairs 



or his wealth to interfere with his 
obligations as a citizen. 

Robert Curtis Ogden. 

Robert Curtis Ogden was born at 
Philadelphia, July 20th, 1836, and is 
the son of the late Jonathan Curtis 
Ogden. He was educated in private 
schools in the city of his birth. On 
March ist, i860, he married Ellen 
Elizabeth Lewis, of Brooklyn. Since 
1885 he has been a partner in the 
firm of John Wanamaker. His busi- 
ness acumen, as well as his bent to- 
ward philanthropic and religious 
work, has eminently fitted him to 
hold the responsible position which 
he occupies in the firm's aflfairs. In 
spite of the many commercial duties 
which are part and portion of Mr. 
Ogden's every-day life, he neverthe- 
less finds time to attend to the many 
philanthropic enterprises in which he 
is interested. In 1889 he acted as a 
member of the State Johnstown Flood 
Relief Commission,, which accom- 
plished much in the way of relieving 
the suflFerers from the disaster in 
question. He is also a director of 
the Union Hill Theological seminary, 



p6 



The Romuncc of Reality. 



trustee of the Tuskegee Institute of 
Alabama and is first vice-president of 
the Pennsylvania Society of New 
York. Mr. Ogden takes an active 
part in church matters and is the 
author of several books and pam- 
phlets, including "Pew Rentals and 
the New Testament — Can They Be 
Reconciled?" "Sunday School Teach- 
ing," etc. As a contributor to the 
magazines, he is well known, some of 
the articles from his pen which have 
attracted much attention being "Get- 
ting and Keeping a Business Posi- 
tion" and "Ethics of Modern Retail- 
ing." ]\Ir. Ogden takes an active in- 
terest in the welfare of the young 
people employed by him and his 
partners. 

Henry Siegel. 

Henry Siegel, whose name is iden- 
tified with those huge so-called de- 
partment stores, which are cities of 
commerce inclosed within four walls, 
was born March 17, 1852, at Enbig- 
hein, Germany. His father was the 
burgomaster of the village, and he 
himself was one of a family of eight 
children. Two of his brothers, on 
attaining manhood, came to this 
country and were fairly prosperous. 
The letters that they sent home acted 
as fuel to the ambitions of Henry, 
and so when seventeen years of age 
he sailed for America, and obtained 
a position in Washington, District of 
Columbia, in a dry goods house at a 
salary of three dollars per week. By 
dint of hard study at night schools 
he managed to get a fair English 
education and next became traveler 
for a clothing house. After some 
years of hard work, he and his broth- 
ers began business for themselves in 
Chicago and fortune followed their 
efforts. In 1887 he founded the 
well-known firm of Siegel, Cooper & 
Co., of Chicago, again prospered, and 
in 1896, together with his partners, 



opened a vast store on Sixth avenue, 
New York. In 1901 he sold out his 
interest in the New York enterprise, 
but immediately acquired the old- 
established firm of Simpson, Craw- 
ford & Co. He simultaneously dis- 
posed of his interest in the Chicago 
concern. A year later he bought a 
half-interest in the firm of Schlessin- 
ger & Mayer, of Chicago. Not con- 
tent with these undertakings, early in 
1903, he began to build a store at 
Thirty-fourth street and Broadway, 
New York, and also purchased an 
entire block in Boston on which he 
proposes to erect a building which 
shall dwarf those of which he is 
already the owner. And so the little 
German who began life as an errand 
boy is now one of the merchant 
princes of America. 

Frank W. Woolworth. 

Frank W. Woolworth was born at 
Rodman, New York, April 13, 1852. 
He passed his boyhood on his pa- 
rents' farm, was educated at a district 
school, and graduated from the Com- 
mercial college at Watertown, New 
York. His start in life was as a clerk 
in a dry goods store at Watertown. 
In 1878 he originated the popular five 
and ten-cent store, which, thanks to 
his energy and acumen, has attained 
such marvelous popularity. His em- 
ployers, Moore & Smith, at his sug- 
gestion, bought $50 worth of the 
cheapest sort of goods and put them 
with other old shop-worn goods on 
the counter, displaying the sign "Any 
article on this counter five cents." 
The stock was sold the first day, and 
Mr. Woolworth then decided to have 
a five and ten-cent store of his own. 
Borrowing $325, he opened a place in 
Utica. New York. The public patron- 
ized him and at the end of six weeks 
he had a net profit of $139.50. In 
1869 he removed to Lancaster, Penn- 
sylvania,, where he opened a store, 



^^1 



Encyclopedic Biographies, or 



and next another at Harrisburg, 
Pennsylvania. Both of these ventures 
were successful and he now has stores 
in nearly every large city in the coun- 
try, there being eight of such in New 
York alone. He was married, in 
1876, to Jennie, daughter of Thomas 



Creighton, of Pictou, Ontario, Can- 
ada, and has three daughters. Mr. 
Woolworth's career is a practical 
commentary on the value of the 
maxim that it is unwise to "despise 
the day of small things." 



FINANCIERS 

William Waldorf Astor. 

William Waldorf Astor, the capi- 
talist and author, born in New York 
city, March 31, 1848 is the son of the 
noted John Jacob and Charlotte Au- 
gusta (Gibbs) Astor. He was edu- 
cated chiefly by private tutors, among 
whom was a professor of the Uni- 
versity of Marburg. At the age of 
23 he was taken into the offices of the 
Astor estate in order to master the 
details of each department. Recog- 
nizing the need of a thorough legal 
education, he studied for two years in 
the Columbia Law School, being ad- 
mitted to the bar in May, 1875. His 
father being convinced of the son's 
exceptional business ability, subse- 
quently gave him absolute control 
over all of his property. In 1877 Mr. 
Astor was elected a member of the 
New York state legislature from the Henry Clews 



deals with Italy in the Middle Ages. 
Mr. Astor has built the New Nether- 
lands hotel, on Fifth avenue and 
Fifty-ninth street, New York city, 
and Hotel Waldorf Astoria, the lat- 
ter on the site of the old Astor resi- 
dence. In September, 1890, Mr. Astor 
moved to London, England, where 
he has entered upon a notable career 
in journalism. He now owns the 
Pall Mall Gazette, and has founded 
the Pall Mall Magazine. He is and 
has been a stockholder and director 
in several American railroads. He 
has other interests outside of his vast 
real estate holdings. On June 6, 
1878, he was married to Mary Dahl- 
gren, daughter of James W. Paul, of 
Philadelphia, Pa. Mrs. Astor died in 
1894. 



Eleventh Assembly District, defeat- 
ing the Tammany Hall and the Inde- 
pendent Democratic candidates. In 
1879 he was elected to the state sen- 
ate and in 1881 was nominated for 
congress in the district formerly rep- 
resented by Levi P. Morton, but was 
defeated by Roswell P. Flower. In 
August, 1882, President Chester A. 
Arthur appointed Mr. Astor Minister 
to Italy. While in Rome he spent 
much time in studying the early his- 
tory of the country, and on returning 
home, in 1885, published his novel, 
Valentino, which embodies his re- 
searches in the mediaeval history of 
Italy. His later novel, Sforza, also 



When the long-sought-for oppor- 
tunity to become a banker came to 
the ambitious young man, now the 
financier, Henry Clews, he did not 
let his chances pass him. He was 
born in Staffordshire, England, Au- 
gust 14, 1840, coming of a good old 
English family. His father, an able 
business man, intended Henry for the 
ministry of the Established Church 
of England. But at the age of fifteen 
the boy. visiting America with his 
father, became so interested in the 
country and its people that he gave 
up all idea of becoming a clergyman, 
and, with his parents' consent, set- 
tled in the United States. His first 



J, 8 



The Romance of Reality. 



position in this country was as a 
clerk with an importing firm, in 
which he rose to a position of re- 
sponsibility. In 1859 he became a 
member of the firm of Stout. Clews 
& Mason, which subsequently became 
Livermore, Clews & Co. At the out- 
break of the Civil War Secretary 
Chase invited him to become agent 
for selling government bonds. His 
unfaltering faith in their worth was 
shown by his subscribing to the Na- 
tional loan at the rate of five million 
or ten million dollars per day, even 
going into debt by borrowing on the 
bonds. This materially strengthened 
the public confidence in the govern- 
ment's course of action. When 'Sir. 
Chase was congratulated upon his 
success in placing the war loans, he 
said: "I deserve no credit; had it 
not been for the exertion of Jay 
Cooke and Henry Clews I could 
never have succeeded." Air. Clews 
founded and organized the famous 
"Committee of Seventy" that success- 
fully disposed of the 'Tw^eed Ring." 
After the Civil War, besides estab- 
lishing a distinctive banking business, 
he became one of the largest negotia- 
tors of railroad loans in America or 
Europe. The present firm of Henry 
Clews & Co. was established in 1877, 
its members pledging themselves 
never to take any speculative risks. 
Mr. Clews has for many years been 
treasurer of the "Society for Preven- 
tion of Cruelty to Animals." and is 
also connected with many city insti- 
tutions and financial corporations. 
He married Lucy Madison, of 
Worthington, Kentucky, a grand- 
niece of ex-President Madison. He 
is a frequent contributor to news- 
papers and magazines and the author 
of Twenty-eight Years in Wall 
Street. 

Mrs. Hetty Green. 

America's richest woman, Mrs. 



Hetty Green, is like the majority of 
wealthy persons, not only able to 
keep, but to increase her riches. Her 
genius for finance is admittedly equal 
to that possessed by any of those 
individuals whose names are identi- 
fied with vast and progressive 
w^ealth. She was born November 21, 
1835, in New Bedford, Mass., her 
maiden name being Hetty Howland 
Robinson. Not long after her birth 
her father, Edward Mott Robinson, 
died, leaving her a large fortune. She 
was educated at the Mrs. Lowell's 
school in Boston. In 1876 she mar- 
ried E. H. Green, of New York City. 
From thence on she began that finan- 
cial career which has made her fa- 
mous. Airs. Green is said to be in- 
terested in nearly every large cor- 
poration all over the world. She also 
has large real estate holdings in a 
number of cities in this country, and 
is interested in many enterprises of 
a general nature. She person^illy 
manages her business affairs, and is 
a familiar figure in Wall Street, and 
"downtown" New York. Her for- 
mula for getting rich is that "Econ- 
omy is the secret of making money." 

John Pierpont Morg.\n. 

John Pierpont Morgan w-as born at 
Hartford, Conn., April 17, 1837. His 
mother was a daughter of the Rev. 
John Pierpont, a noted clergyman, 
poet, author and temperance worker. 
He was educated at the English high 
school at Boston and at the Univer- 
sity of Gottingen, Germany, from 
whence he graduated in 1857. On 
returning to the United States he be- 
came associated with the banking 
house of Duncan, Sherman & Co., of 
New York citj-. In i860 he severed 
his connection with that firm and be- 
gan business for himself. In 1864 he 
formed the firm of Dabney, Morgan 
& Co. Meantime he had become rep- 
resentative of the house of George 



519 



Encyclopedic Biographies, 



or 



Peabody & Co., of London, and dur- 
ing the Civil War he was able, 
through this connection, to render 
substantial assistance to the Federal 
government. In 1871 he organized 
the firm of Drexel, Morgan & Co., 
and by the death of Mr. Drexel, in 
1893, he became senior partner. In 
1895 the firm title was changed to J. 
P. Morgan & Co. He is also head 
of the firms of J. P. Morgan & Co., 
of London ; IMorgan, Hayes & Co., of 
Paris, and Drexel & Co., of Philadel- 
phia. Mr. Morgan is generally known 
as the "King of Trust },Iagnates," on 
account of his having engineered so 
many mercantile and financial con- 
solidations ; in fact, he has been in- 
strumental in forming the majority of 
the great corporations or trusts. He 
gives large sums to charity, is a lib- 
eral patron of art, and is a member of 
all the leading clubs of New York 
and other cities. In 1865 he was mar- 
ried to Frances Louise, daughter of 
John Tracy. He has one son, John 
Pierpont Morgan, Jr., and three 
daughters. Mr. Morgan's vast opera- 
tions are not confined to this country. 
He is an active power in English and 
Continental financial circles. 

John Davison Rockefeller. 

The owner of what is believed to 
be the largest individual income in 
the world began his business life as 
a poorly paid clerk in a small provin- 
cial firm. John Davison Rockefeller 
was born at Rich ford, New York, on 
July 8th, 1839. He was educated in 
the local public schools. In 1853 his 
parents moved to Cleveland, Ohio, 
where, while still a boy, he obtained 
a position as clerk in a general com- 
mission house. When nineteen he 
went into business for himself by be- 
coming a partner in the firm of 
Chrk & Rockefeller, general com- 
mission merchants. Subsequently the 
firm admitted another partner, and 



under the title of Andrews, Clark & 
Co., engaged in the oil business. Its 
so doing, so it is said, was due to the 
sagacity of Mr. Rockefeller, who was 
one of the few men of the period who 
recognized the future and gigantic 
possibilities of the oil industry. Later 
changes were made in the organiza- 
tion of the firm, and in 1865. under 
the name of William Rockefeller & 
Co., it built the Standard Oil Works 
at Cleveland. In 1870 the works 
were consolidated with others and 
were then known as the Standard Oil 
Company. From time to time other 
oil interests were acquired, and in 
1882 all were merged into the Stand- 
ard Oil Trust. Ten years later, how- 
ever, the trust was dissolved, and 
from that time to the present the 
various companies of which it was 
composed are operated separate!}-, 
with Mr. Rockefeller at the head of 
the business as a whole. 

Charles Tyson Yerkes. 

The Yerkes family is of Dutch 
origin, and Charles Tyson Yerkes 
was born June 25, 1837, in Philadel- 
phia, Pennsylvania. He was educated 
at the Friends' School and the Cen- 
tral High School in his native city, 
and entered business life as clerk in 
a flour and grain commission house. 
He worked w^ithout salary, since, in 
those days, it w^as counted a privi- 
lege to be connected with first-class 
houses. Because of his close atten- 
tion to his duties he was presented 
with fifty dollars at the end of his 
first year's service. In 1859 he opened 
a stock broker's ofiice in Philadel- 
phia. During the Civil War he dealt 
heavily in government, state and city 
bonds. The panic occasioned by the 
Chicago fire caught him heavily in- 
debted to the city for bonds sold for 
it. The authorities demanded settle- 
ment ; but, being unable to pay in 
full, he made an assignment. In 1873 



$20 



The Romance of Reality. 



he commenced the recuperation of liis 
fortune, and with success. In 1880 
he made a trip to Chicago, and, be- 
coming convinced of the opportuni- 
ties the west offered to financiers, he 
joined an "improvement syndicate," 
of which he later became sole owner. 
Subsequently he sold his interest in it 
and opened a banking house in Chi- 
cago. In 1886 he obtained control of 
the North Chicago Railway Com- 
pany. He added other systems, and 
finally united several corporations 



under the title of the Chicago Con- 
solidated Traction Company. Mr. 
Yerkes was a chief factor m getting 
the Columbian Exposition for Chi- 
cago. He is a devoted lover of art, 
and possesses a unique collection of 
pictures. His successful efforts to 
introduce New World street trans- 
portation methods into England are 
a matter of recent record. In 1861 
^Ir. Yerkes was married to Mary 
Adelaide Moore, of Philadelphia. 



POLITICAL LEADERS. 



Nelson Wilmarth Aldrich. 

The republican leader in the senate, 
Nelson Wilmarth Aldrich, was born 
in Foster, Rhode Island, November 
6, 1841. After having received a 
common school and academy educa- 
tion, he became engaged in mercan- 
tile pursuits in Providence, being en- 
tirely successful therein. While a 
very young man, Mr. Aldrich became 
interested in the conduct and welfare 
of public schools. He became so 
prominent in connection with efforts 
looking to school improvements that 
in 1871 he was elected president of 
the Providence common council. In 
1873 he was a member of the Rhode 
Island legislature, and at 1876 was 
its speaker. It was about this period 
that Mr. Aldrich began to take an 
active part in national politics, in 
consequence of which he was made 
member of congress in 1879, holding 
that office until 1883, when he resign- 
ed in order to take a seat in the sen- 
ate. Since that time he has been 
more or less continuously in the pub- 
lic ej-e. He is chairman of the com- 
mittee of rules of the Fiftieth con- 
gress, and is, as already stated, re- 
publican leader in the senate. While 
Mr. Aldrich is not a brilliant orator, 
he has a remarkable instinct for or- 



ganization, and it is that faculty more 
than any other that has obtained for 
him the prominent position in the 
Republican party which is now his. 

William Jennings Bryan. 

William Jennings Bryan was born 
in Salem, Marion county, Illinois, 
March 19, i860. He got an elemen- 
tary education at home from his 
mother until he was ten, and then at- 
tended public school until his fifteenth 
year, studying thereafter for two 
years at Whipple academy, Jackson- 
ville, which he left in order to enter 
Illinois college. During his college 
course he was prominent in literary 
and debating societies and on his 
graduation, in 1881, delivered the 
valedictory of his class. For the next 
two years he studied law in the Union 
law college, and in the office of Ly- 
man Trumbull, and upon his admis- 
sion to the bar began to practice at 
Jacksonville. In 1884 he removed to 
Lincoln. Nebraska, and became a 
member of the law firm of Talbot & 
Bryan. He soon became active in 
politics, his first public reputation be- 
ing made in the campaign of 1888. 
In 1890 he was sent to congress. In 
1892 he was renominated and again 
elected. In 1896 he was a delegate 



521 



Encyclopedic Biographies, or 



from Nebraska to the national con- 
vention of the Democratic party at 
Chicago, where his briUiant speech in 
defense of free silver caused his nom- 
ination as candidate to the presidency 
of the United States. After a most 
remarkable campaign he was defeat- 
ed. He was a colonel of the Third 
Nebraska Volunteers during the 
Spanish-American war, and at its ter- 
mination returned to Nebraska, re- 
suming his political activities. He 
edits and publishes The Commoner, a 
weekly periodical, in which he sets 
forth his political principles. Mary 
E. Baird, of Perry, Illinois, whom he 
married in 1884, has borne him three 
children. 

Arthur Pue Gorman. 

There are very few people who be- 
gin political life as early as Arthur 
Pue Gorman. He was born Manch 
II, 1839, and at thirteen years of age 
became a page in the United States 
senate. In 1866 he was appointed 
revenue collector in Maryland, which 
office he held until 1869, when U. S. 
Grant became president. From 1875 
to 1879 he was state senator, and 
from 1881 to 1899 he was United 
States senator from Maryland. From 
1869 to 1875 he was member of the 
Maryland House of Delegates. In 
spite of his limited schooling, he man- 
aged by wide and careful reading and 
practical experience to secure an edu- 
cation in general and in public mat- 
ters in particular,, which has procured 
for him the position of a notable 
political leader. It was largely 
through Mr. Gorman's management 
that Grover Cleveland was elected to 
the presidency after an uninterrupted 
series of democratic defeats for a 
quarter of a century. Calmness of 
temper, courage, self-reliance and 
honesty are the qualities which he 
possesses, which, too, inspire respect 
and which win him triumphs. He is 



an able speaker and a master of par- 
liamentary law. He has strikingly im- 
pressed hnnself upon national atfairs, 
and his name has often been voiced 
in the press as a fit candidate for the 
presidency. 

AIarcus Alonzo Hanna. 

Marcus Alonzo Hanna, one of the 
most prominent figures in national 
republican affairs, was born Septem- 
ber 24, 1837, at New Lisbon (now 
Lisbon), Ohio. His father was a 
grocer in that village. Young Hanna 
was educated at local schools,, and in 
the Western Reserve college and 
Kenyon college, Ohio. When not in 
school he was helping his father in 
the latter's store, and cut short his 
academic course in order to clerk for 
his father, who had decided on open- 
ing a place of business in Cleveland. 
Until he was twenty he thus worked, 
receiving a small salary for so doing. 
In 1861 his father died, and young 
Hanna became heir to the business, 
which he continued to run until 1867. 
During that year he sold out and laid 
the foundations of the vast fortune 
which he now possesses. Mr. Hanna 
is interested in banks, railroads, 
mines of many sorts, especially coal, 
steamship lines, etc. At a compara- 
tively early age he became interested 
in political questions, into the solving 
of which he threw himself with char- 
acteristic earnestness. For many 
years he has been chairman of the re- 
publican national committee, and in 
that capacity he secured the nomina- 
tion of the late President McKinley, 
as well as obtaining a second term 
for him. Mr. Hanna i United States 
senator from Ohio, having been elect- 
ed to that office in 1897. In his own 
words, his success may be explained 
thus : "I was never penniless, be- 
cause I always saved. I was never 
hopeless, because I would not be dis- 
couraged, and I always felt assured 



522 



The Romance of Reality. 



that present endeavors would bring 
forth future fruit." 

Carter Henry Harrison, Jr. 

Carter Henry Harrison, Jr., was 
born in Chicago, April 23, i860. He 
is the son of the late Carter Henry 
Harrison, one of the builders of the 
City of Chicago, who was its mayor 
five times. Carter Henry Harrison, 
Jr., was educated in the public 
schools, in educational establishments 
in Altenburg, Germany, at St. Igna- 
tius college. Chicago, and the Yale 
law school, from which he graduated 
in 1883. On December 14, 1887, he 
was married to Edith, daughter of 
Robert N. Ogden, of the Court of 
Appeals, New Orleans. He followed 
his father's profession of law and 
the real estate business. He also was 
the publisher of the Chicago Times, 
1891 and 1893 ; was elected mayor of 
Chicago as a democrat. April 6, 1897, 
1899, 1901 and 1903. Mr. Harrison 
has the courage of vigorous opinions 
politically, municipally and in other 
ways. While some may differ from 
him as to his beliefs and methods. 
even these admit his possession of 
those qualities which enable him to 
successfully fulfil duties that are 
usually relegated to much older men. 

David Bennett Hill. 

David Bennett Hill is another coun- 
try boy who has risen from obscurity 
to prominence. Born August 29, 1843, 
in the little village of Havana, New 
York, he was educated in the local 
academy, and in 1862 went to Elmira 
to study law. In 1864 he was ad- 
mitted to the bar, and in the same 
year was appointed city attorney. He 
rose rapidly in his profession, and 
soon began to take an active part in 
politics. In 1S68 he was a delegate to 
the democratic state convention and 
two years later was elected a member 
of the state assembly. In the legisla- 



ture of 1872 he was a member of the 
judicial committee, which was com- 
posed of two republicans and seven 
democrats, among the latter being 
Samuel J. Tilden. A warm friend- 
ship sprang up between Mr. Hill and 
Mr. Tilden that continued during the 
lifetime of the latter. In 1877 Mr. 
Hill was made chairman of the Dem- 
ocratic state convention at Albany, 
and in 1881 he held the same posi- 
tion. In 1882 he became mayor oi 
the city of Elmira, New York. Ir. 
1882 he was elected lieutenant-gover- 
nor on the Democratic ticket and two 
years later, when Grover Cleveland 
was elected to the presidency of the 
United States. Mr. Hill succeeded to 
the governorship for the unexpired 
time. In 1885 he was elected to the 
governorship of New York state for 
the full term of three years. In 1891 
he was made United States senator, 
that being the first time in ten years 
that there. had been a democratic ma- 
jority in the state legislature. In 
1885 Mr. Hill was chosen president 
of the state bar association, of which 
he has been a member since its in- 
auguration. Mr. Hill is not an ora- 
tor, yet he speaks with force and di- 
rectness. He has made political 
speeches in every section of the coun- 
try and is a prime favorite in the 
south. He does not use tobacco or 
liquor, is a bachelor and not fond of 
society, yet is tactfully cordial on all 
occasions. 

Matthew Stanley Quay. 

It is worthy of note that a great 
many political leaders are of Irish 
ancestry. The forefathers of Matthew 
Stanley Quay, for example, came 
from Ireland and settled in the Quak- 
er state in 1715. Matthew himself 
was born at Dillsburg, York county, 
Pennsylvania. September 30. 1833. 
He was named after General Mat- 
thew Stanley. At seventeen he grad- 



5^-3 



Encyclopedic Biographies, or 



uated from Jefiferson college at Can- 
onsburg, Pennsylvania, after which 
he traveled, taught school and studied 
law, being admitted to the bar in 
1854. During the Civil war he served 
for nine months as colonel of the One 
Hundred and Thirty-fourth Regi- 
ment, Pennsylvania Volunteers. In 

1862 he became a military state agent 
at Washington, and afterward, from 

1863 to 1865, was major and chief of 
transportation and telegraphs and 
military secretary to Governor Cur- 
tin. In 1865 he was elected a Penn- 
sylvania state representative, and 
since that time has been continuously 
in politics, finally becoming the re- 
publican leader of his state. He has 
a natural genius for organization and 



management, is full of tact and avoids 
attempting the impracticable. He is 
invariably calm, serene and resource- 
ful. Hardly any political leader has 
been more attacked by the press nor 
have any had occasion to make a 
greater fight against public opinion 
than Senator Quay. Yet with bull- 
dog tenacity he holds firm to his pol- 
icy undeterred either by opposition 
or by calumny. As the late head of 
the Republican organization he has 
planned and carried to success many 
difficult state and national campaigns. 
It was chiefly through his masterful 
ability as a political craftsman that 
Benjamin Harrison was elected to the 
presidency. 



LAWYERS AND JURISTS. 



Frank Swett Black. 

Frank Swett Black was born at 
Limington. Maine, March 8, 1853. 
He graduated from Dartmouth, 1875. 
He entered professional life as the 
editor of the Johnstown, New York, 
Journal. Later he became reporter 
of the Troy Whig, New York. He 
was a clerk in the registry depart- 
ment of the Troy postoffice. during 
which time he studied law and was 
admitted to the bar in 1879. He was 
a member of congress in 1895 to 1897, 
and in 1897 was elected by the re- 
publicans as governor of New York 
state. He also won distinction as a 
trial lawyer and has defended a num- 
ber of notable cases, among which 
was the celebrated case of Rollin B. 
Molineaux. 

Frederick Rene Coudert. 

The young man who wishes to suc- 
ceed in the profession of law would 
do well to study the life of the law- 
yer, Frederick Rene Coudert, whose 



every act has been marked by fair- 
ness and courtesy. He was born of 
French parentage in the city of New 
York in 1832, receiving his early edu- 
cation at his father's school in that 
city. At the age of fourteen he en- 
tered Columbia college, graduating 
with highest honors in 1850, his ad- 
dress on that occasion calling forth 
much comment from the press. Dur- 
ing the next few years he busied 
himself with newspaper work, teach- 
ing and translations, besides studying 
law ; and at the age of twenty-one 
was admitted to the New York bar. 
His brothers, Lewis and Charles Cou- 
dert, Jr., joining him in the practice 
of law, they formed the firm of Cou- 
dert Brothers, one of the oldest and 
largest law firms of New York city, 
and of which Frederick R. Coudert 
is the recognized head. He has 
achieved quite a reputation as a 
speaker and lecturer; and among his 
most notable addresses might be 
mentioned one at the centennial cele- 



5H 



The Romance of Reality. 



bration of Columbia college, 1887; 
an eloquent speech in favor of tke 
Democratic union during the cam- 
paign of Tilden in 1879. and his pub- 
lic addresses on the arrival of Bar- 
tholdi's statue of liberty and the 
statues of Lafayette and Bolivar. He 
has been quite active in the political 
work of the democratic party, but 
avoiding, rather than asking, public 
functions, several times having de- 
clined nominations which signified 
election to the bench of the Supreme 
Court. Mr. Coudert played a promi- 
nent part in the election of Presi- 
dent Cleveland in 1884. Mr. Cou- 
dert's abilities have been of great 
service in other fields. He was the 
first president of the United States 
Catholic Historical Society, holding 
the office several terms ; for years 
president of the Columbia college 
alumni association ; for years gov- 
ernment director of the Union Pa- 
cific railroad; for a long time trustee 
of Columbia and Barnard colleges 
and of Seton Hall College, New Jer- 
sey, besides being the director in 
numerous social and charitable or- 
ganizations. In 1880 Seton college 
awarded him the degree of LL.D., 
which degree was also given by Ford- 
ham college in 1884, and. in 1887, he 
received from Columbia college the 
degree of J. U. D. As a mark of 
recognition the French government 
presented him with the Cross of the 
Legion of Honor, which decoration 
he has also received from the gov- 
ernments of Italy and Bolivia. 

J.\MEs Brooks Dill. 

A sturdy Scotch ancestry has given 
to the lawyer, James Brooks Dill, 
that pertinacity and determination 
which successfully overcomes all ob- 
stacles. He was born in Spencerport, 
New York, July 25, 1854, the oldest 
child of the Rev. James Horton and 
Catherine (Brooks) Dill. Four vcars 



after his birth his parents removed to 
Chicago, but upon the death of his 
father, in 1863, he removed with his 
mother to New Haven, Connecticut, 
continuing his studies in the elemen- 
tary branches. After studying at 
Oberlin, Ohio, from 1868 to 1872, he 
entered Yale, graduating in the class 
of 1876. He now taught school and 
studied law, and in 1877 came to New 
York, where he obtained a position 
as instructor in Stevens' Institute, 
Hoboken. Mr. Dill was graduated 
with the degree of LL.D. from the 
University law school in 1878, as 
salutatorian, and was then admitted 
to the bar of New York. Corporation 
law was made one of his special 
studies, and, in 1879, he won an im- 
portant corporation case which soon 
established his reputation as a cor- 
poration lawyer and an authority on 
this particular subject. His marked 
business ability, combined with a 
clear legal mind, made his services 
sought by the many large and influ- 
ential corporate interet . He was 
married in 1880 to Miss Mary W. 
Hansell, daughter of a Philadelphia 
merchant, thereupon removing to 
Orange, New Jersey. He became an 
active worker in the municipal and 
social improvement of the Oranges, 
organizing a People's Bank, of which 
he has always been a director and 
counsel. He also assisted in estab- 
lishing the Savings Investment and 
Trust Co., becoming director and 
vice-president. He is now director in 
the Seventh National Bank of New 
York City, the Corporation Trust 
Company of New Jersey, the .-Kmeri- 
can School of Architecture at Rome, 
the New England State Railway 
Company of Boston, the Central Te- 
resa Sugar Company and others. 

Melville We.'^ton Fuller. 

The most notable figure of the ju- 
diciary of this country is undoubted- 



5'-S 



Encyclopedic Biographies, or 



ly Chief Justice Melville Weston Ful- 
ler, of the Supreme Court of the 
United States. He is in every way 
the ideal dignitary of the bench, im- 
pressive as to appearance, forceful in 
forensic oratory, learned in the law 
and unblemished as to reputation, 
personal and professional. He was 
born February ii, 1833, at Augusta, 
Maine, coming of sterling New Eng- 
land stock. Graduating from Bow- 
doin college in 1853, and later edu- 
cated at Harvard law school, he, in 
1855, was admitted to the bar. Form- 
ing a law partnership in the town of 
his birth, he later established there a 
Democratic paper known as The Age, 
of which he became assistant editor. 
The venture was successful and The 
Age became a power in political cir- 
cles in Maine. Young Fuller was 
also elected president of the common 
council, and city attorney for the 
town. But Augusta was too small a 
sphere for the rising young lawyer, 
so in 1859 he went to Chicago, where 
he opened a law office. Simultane- 
ously he took an active part in Illi- 
nois politics. It was not long before 
he became a recognized political 
leader locally. In 1863 he became a 
member of the Illinois legislature, in 
which capacity he confirmed the be- 
liefs of those who regarded him as a 
coming man. He was delegate to a 
number of Democratic national con- 
ventions, in each of which he was a 
prominent figure. President Cleve- 
land appointed him chief justice on 
April 30, 1888, and he was confirmed 
and seated the year following. 

John William Griggs. 

John William Griggs was born at 
Newton, New Jersey, July 10, 1849. 
He was graduated from Lafayette 
college in 1868, and, after studying 
law, was admitted to the bar in 1871. 
He practiced law at Paterson until 
1876, in which year he was elected a 



member of the New Jersey general 
assembly. In 1886 he was president 
of the New Jersey senate. He was 
elected governor of New Jersey in 
1896, which office he resigned to ac- 
cept the office of attorney-general of 
the United States. He resigned the 
attorney-generalship in 1901. 

Oliver Wendell Holmes. 

Oliver Wendell Holmes, the son of 
Dr. Oliver Wendell Holmes, the poet 
and essayist, was born at Boston, 
March 8, 1841. He graduated from 
Harvard in 1861, and from the Har- 
vard law school in 1866. During the 
Civil war he served three years with 
the Massachusetts volunteers, and 
was wounded in the breast in the bat- 
tle of Balls Bluff, and again wounded 
at the battle of Antietam. At the 
close of the war he engaged in the 
practice of law in Boston, and was 
editor of the Law Review from 1870 
to 1873. In 1882 he became professor 
at the Harvard law school. In the 
same year he was made assistant jus- 
tice in the Supreme judicial court. 
Massachusetts, and on August 2, 
1899, he was made chief justice of 
the same court. 

William Tr avers Jerome. 

William Travers Jerome, who, by 
reason of being the district attorney 
of the metropolis, his power of pun- 
gent political oratory and his strenu- 
ous work as a municipal reformer, is 
one of the best known and decidedly 
one of the most interesting figures in 
the current history of New York, is 
still a young man. He was born 
April 18, 1859, in Lawrence, Massa- 
chusetts, receiving his initial edu- 
cation at the local public school 
and from private tutors ; he took a 
classical course at Amherst college, 
and next was a student at the Co- 
lumbia university law school of New 
York city. He was admitted to the 



526 



The Romance of Reality. 



bar in 1884 and became connected 
with a New York law firm. From 
the first he gave evidence of being 
the possessor of those quahties which 
hiter made him famous. As a lawyer 
his learnedly aggressive methods 
brought him popularity and many 
fees. As a justice of the court of 
special sessions,, he lived up to the 
reputation that he had established on 
the bench. When, a few years since, 
he threw himself into the political 
whirlpool, he gave the country-at- 
large an excellent example of the 
man who has waited for his oppor- 
tunity, recognizes it when he sees it 
and grasps it forthwith. It is not too 
much to say that Mr. Jerome did 
more than any one man, or, for that 
matter, any one group of men to free 
New York from certain evil influ- 
ences which had fastened themselves 
upon it and its citizens. Here is 
what he says relative to his political 
success, but his remarks apply equally 
to success of all kinds: "A young 
man must have strong convictions of 
the right kind, hold to them through 
thick and thin, be willing to accept 
defeats smilingly, if necessary 'begin 
his work all over again, but still stick 
to it — and victory is assured." 

Joseph McKenna. 

Another of the numerous success- 
ful jurists whose ancestry is Irish. 
He was the son of John and Mary 
McKenna, his father being from Ire- 
land and his mother from England. 
He was born at Philadelphia, August 
10. 1843, and was educated in the 
public schools and at St. Joseph col- 
lege until 1855. when the family re- 
moved to Benicia. California, where 
he entered St. Augustine college and 
took up the study of law. Directly 
afterward he graduated and w-as ad- 
mitted to the' bar. In 1865 he Vv-as 
elected district attorney of Solano 
county. He sen-ed in this capacity 



for two terms. In 1873 he was elect- 
ed to the legislature, and one year 
later the republicans nominated him 
for congress, but he was defeated, 
and not only on this occasion but 
again in 1878. In 1884, however, he 
was elected, and a year later entered 
congress, where he remained, by re- 
election, until 1891. As a member of 
the ways and means committee he 
had a great deal to do with impor- 
tant tariff legislation. In 1892 Presi- 
dent Harrison appointed him circuit 
judge. In 1897 he entered McKin- 
ley's cabinet as attorney-general, but 
in December of the same year was 
appointed judge of the Supreme 
Court of the United States to succeed 
Justice Field. He was married in 
San Francisco, 1869, to Amanda 
Borneman. 

A.LTON Brooks Parker. 

Alton Brooks Parker comes from 
good old New England stock. He 
was born in Worcester, Massachu- 
setts, May 14, 1851. Later his family 
moved to Cortland, New Y'ork, in 
which place he was educated, gradu- 
ating from the normal school at that 
place. He spent three years in teach- 
ing, and then entered a law school 
at Kingston, New York, and after- 
ward took a course at the Albany law 
school, where he was graduated in 
1872. After being admitted to the 
bar, he formed a partnership with W. 
S. Kenyon at Kingston, New York. 
In 1877 Mr. Parker was elected sur- 
rogate of Ulster county, and was 
again re-elected in 1883. Two years 
later he was appointed, by Governor 
Hill, justice of the Supreme Court to 
fill the vacancy occasioned by the 
death of Hon. Theodoric R. West- 
brook. At the end of the year he 
was elected justice for the full term. 
In January, 1889, the second division 
of the Court of Appeals was created, 
and Judge Parker was appointed to 



527 



Encyclopedic Biographies, or 



it, he being the youngest member who 
ever sat in the Court of Appeals in 
New York city. The second division 
court was dissolved in 1892, and at 
that time Governor Hill appointed 
him member of the general term of 
the first department, where he con- 
tinued until 1895. He has always 
been active in politics and has been a 
delegate to nearly every state con- 
vention,, and also to the national con- 
vention in 1884 which nominated 



Grover Cleveland. In 1895 he was 
chairman of the Democratic state 
executive committee. In 1897 he was 
elected by a majority of over sixty 
thousand to the office of chief jus- 
tice of the Court of Appeals, the 
highest judicial office in the state of 
New York. He has often been men- 
tioned as a possible candidate for 
president by the Democratic party. 
He was married October 16, 1873, to 
Mary L. Schoonmaker. 



SOLDIERS AND SAILORS. 



Adna Romanza Chaffee. 

Adna Romanza Chaffee was born 
at Orwell, Ohio, April 14, 1842. He 
was educated in the public schools 
and entered the army July 22, 1861. 
serving first as a private, but the 
close of the war, March 31, 1865, 
found him a captain. In 1868, in 
fighting the Comanche Indians on 
Paint Tree creek, Texas, he was made 
a major for gallantry in that and 
other campaigns, and was finally 
made lieutenant-colonel. At the 
breaking out of the Spanish-Ameri- 
can war he was appointed brigadier- 
general of the United States volun- 
teers, commanding the third brigade, 
fifth corps, in the Santiago campaign. 
He was promoted to major-general 
United States volunteers, July 8, 
1898, and was honorably discharged 
as major-general, April 13, 1899, but 
was again appointed brigadier-general 
United States volunteers, one year 
later and assigned to the command of 
the United States forces for the re- 
lief of the United States legation at 
Pekin, China. In igoi he was made 
a major-general United States army. 

George Dewey. 

George Dewey, the third adiniral 
of the United States navy, was born 
at Montpelier, Vermont, December 



26, 1837. His father, Julius Yemans 
Dewey, was a physician. George at- 
tended school in Montpelier and at 
Johnson, Vermont. In 1853 he en- 
tered the University of Norwich, Ver- 
mont, but, instead of completing his 
course, he secured an appointment in 
the United States naval academy in 
1854. He was graduated with honors 
in 1858 and was attached to the steam 
frigate Wabash. In 1861 he was com- 
missioned a lieutenant and assigned 
to the steam sloop Mississippi, of the 
West Gulf squadron. He saw his 
first service imder fire with Farragut 
in 1862, served with distinction all 
through the Civil war, and, at the 
close, he was commissioned lieuten- 
ant-commander. From 1868 to 1870 
he was an instructor in the naval 
academy. Promoted to a captaincy 
in 1884, he was placed in command 
of the Dolphin, but in 1895 was re- 
turned to the European station in 
command of the flagship Pensacola ; 
there he remained until 1888, when he 
was ordered home and appointed 
chief of the bureau of equipment, 
ranking as commander. On Febru- 
ary 26, 1896. he was commissioned 
commander and made president of 
the board of inspection and survey, 
which position he held until January, 
1898, when he was given command 



528 



The Romance of Reality. 



of the Asiatic station. While at 
l^Iongkong Prince Henry of Germany 
gave a banquet, at which he proposed 
a toast to the various countries rep- 
resented, but omitted the United 
States, whereupon Commander 
Dewey left the room without cere- 
mony. Three days after the begin- 
ning of the war with Spain President 
McKinley cabled him at Hongkong: 
"Proceed at once to the Philippine 
Islands. Commence operations, par- 
ticularly against the Spanish fleet. 
You must capture or destroy the ves- 
sels. Use utmost endeavor." Dewey's 
success in carrying out these orders 
is known to all the world. President 
AIcKinley yielded to the popular de- 
mand that the rank of rear-admiral 
be revived in favor of Dewey. Ac- 
cordingly, on March 3, 1899, the ap- 
pointment was confirmed in executive 
session of the United States senate. 
He vv-as married at Portsmouth, New 
Hampshire, October 24, 1867, to Su- 
san B., daughter of ex-Governor 
Ichabod Goodwin, who died in De- 
cember, 1872 ; he was again married 
to ^Irs. Mildred Hazen in Washing- 
ton on November 9. 1899. 

ROBLEY DUXGLISON EVANS. 

Robley Dunglison Evans, better 
known as Fighting Bob Evans, was 
born at Floyd Courthouse, Virginia, 
August 18, 1847. His father was a 
physician and a farmer, his mother 
being the daughter of John Jackson, 
of Fairfax county, and sister of 
James Jackson, who shot Colonel 
Ellsworth for capturing a Confeder- 
ate flag on the roof of his hotel, Rob- 
ley was educated at a country school 
and Gonzaga classical school, Wash- 
ington, D. C. On September 20. 
i860, he was appointed to the United 
States naval academy by Congress- 
man William R. Hooper, from the 
Utah Territory. He was made a 
midshipman in i860, and promoted to 



ensign in 1863. In 1864 and 1865 he 
served with his ship in the North 
Atlantic blockade squadron. He saw 
considerable service in the West In- 
dies, and, in the attack on Fort 
Fisher, in 1865, received rifle shot 
wounds which disabled him for a 
time. In 1866 he was commissioned 
lieutenant; in 1868 was made lieu- 
tenant commander, and was later as- 
signed to duty at the navy yard, 
Washington, and still later at the 
naval academy, Annapolis. From 
1877 to 1881 he was in command of 
the training ship Saratoga, and later 
was promoted to commander. In 1891- 
'92 he was in command of the United 
States naval force at the Behring Sea 
to suppress sealing. In 1893 he was 
promoted to captain. During the 
Spanish-American war Captain Evans 
was in command of the battleship 
Iowa, which achieved distinction dur- 
ing the battle of Santiago, when the 
fleet of Admiral Cervera made an at- 
tempt to run the blockade. He 
served all through the Spanish- 
American war, and, in 1898, by his 
own request, he was detached from 
the command of the Iowa and was 
assigned to duty as a member of the 
board of inspection and survey. He 
was married in i860 to Charlotte, 
daughter of Frank Taylor, of Wash- 
ington, District of Columbia. 

Fred Funston. 

Fred Funston was born in Ohio, 
November 9, 1865. His father was a 
prominent public man and one time 
a member of congress from Kansas. 
He was graduated in 1886 from the 
high school at lola, Kansas, and later 
studied for two years in the state 
university at Lawrence, but was not 
graduated. In 1890 he was a reporter 
in Kansas City, and his first public 
work was done as botanist in the 
United States death valley expedi- 
tion in 1891. Returning he was made 



5^9 



Encyclopedic Biographies, 



or 



a commissioner in the department of 
agriculture and was assigned to ex- 
plore Alaska and report on its flora. 
In 1893 he floated down the Yukon 
alone in a canoe. He served eighteen 
months in the insurgent army in 
Cuba,, and upon his return to the 
United States, in 1896, was commis- 
sioned a colonel in the Twentieth 
Kansas volunteers. In 1898 he went 
to the Philippines and took part in 
several battles. He crossed the Rio 
Grande river at Calumpit on a small 
bamboo raft under heavy fire and es- 
tablished a rope ferry by which the 
United States troops were enabled to 
cross and win the battle. For this 
deed of valor he was promoted to 
brigadier-general of the United States 
volunteers May 2, 1899. He remained 
in active service in the Philippines 
and organized the expedition which 
succeeded in the capture of Agui- 
naldo. For this he was promoted to 
brigadier-general United States army, 
March 20, 1901. 

Richard Pearson Hobson. 

Many of our naval and army offi- 
cers are of southern birth. Richard 
Pearson Hobson is a case in point, 
since he was born at Greensboro, Ala- 
bama, August 17, 1870. His ances- 
tors were English and many of them 
were members of the nobility. Young 
Hobson, after a course in the public 
schools and the Southern university 
at Greensboro, entered the United 
States naval academy at Annapolis in 
1889. He was immediately appointed 
a midshipman on the Chicago, under 
command of Rear-Admiral Walker 
and ordered to the European station. 
Upon his return he received the com- 
pliment of an appointment as one of 
the United States officers permitted 
by the British government to receive 
a course of instructions at the Royal 
navy college, Woolwich, England. 
Here he remained three years, taking 



a special study in naval architecture. 
On returning home he received an 
appointment to the navy department 
at Washington, and discharged his 
duties with such fidelity and intelli- 
gence that he was given an appoint- 
ment as assistant naval constructor. 
He was later ordered to the Brook- 
lyn navy yard, where he remained one 
year. Next he went to Newport 
News to inspect the battleships Kear- 
sarge and Kentucky, which were un- 
der construction there. He then be- 
came instructor in the post-graduate 
course in naval instruction, which he 
inaugurated at the naval academy in 
1897. In 1898 he, with his pupils, 
was ordered to join Sampson's fleet 
at Key West, with which he remained 
until the performance of the remark- 
able and historic feat of bottling up 
Cervera in the harbor of Santiago de 
Cuba. He received a great deal of 
deserved honor for this achievement, 
and was nominated by President Mc- 
Kinley March i, 1899, to be advanced 
ten numbers from number one from 
the list of naval constructors for ex- 
traordinary heroism. This is said to 
be the greatest possible promotion in 
the naval service for gallant conduct 
in the face of the enemy. Hobson 
has done subsequent excellent work 
and is the author of a number of 
works on subjects relative to his pro- 
fession. 

WiNFiED Scott Schley. 

Winfield Scott Schley was born in 
Frederick, Maryland, October 9, 1839. 
After being educated in the public 
schools he entered the naval acad- 
emy at Annapolis, September 20, 
1856, and was graduated in i860. 
During the Civil war he served in 
various capacities, and at its close he 
was commissioned lieutenant-com- 
mander and was m.ade instructor in 
languages at the United States naval 
aeademj'. In 1884 he volunteered for, 



530 



The lluniancc of Kcality. 



and was placed in command of, the 
relief expedition sent to the arctic 
regions in search of Lieutenant Greely 
and his companions. Two other at- 
tempts to relieve Lieutenant Greely 
had been failures, but Commander 
Schley's determination and intrepid- 
ity carried his expedition to success, 
and the seven survivors of the expe- 
dition were found and brought back, vVilliam Rufus Shafter 



squadron ai the time of action and 
was the most badly injured of all the 
American tleet. At the close of the 
war he was placed on waiting orders. 
He was married in Annapolis, Mary- 
land, September lo, 1863, to Anna 
Rebecca, daughter of George E. and 
Marie Caroline Franklin. 



together with the bodies of those who 
had perished. In recognition of this 
achievement, the Maryland legisla- 
ture presented him with a gold watch 
and a vote of thanks, and the Massa- 
chusetts Humane Society gave him a 
gold medal, and a territory west of 
Cape Sabine was named Schley land. 
He was also commissioned to carry, 
to Sweden, the remains of John 
Erickson. for which King Oscar 
awarded him a gold medal. In 1898 
he was made commodore. Previous 
to the outbreak of the Spanish-Amer- 
ican war he was given command of 
the "Flying Squadron." On May 19 
he was ordered by Sampson to block- 
ade Cienfuegos. On May 29. he had 
been ordered to Santiago by the navy 
department and there he discovered 
the Spanish fleet in the harbor. At 
8:45 of that day Sampson steamed 
eastward to Siboney. thus placing 
Schley in command. Scarcely an hour 
later the Spaniards emerged from 
the harbor, the Brooklyn, Schley's 
ship, signalling, "clear ship for ac- 
tion." "the enemy escaping to west- 
ward" and "close action," and steam- 
ed forward to meet the advancing 
enemy. One after another the Te- 
resa. Oouondo. Biscaya and Colon 
were run aground under a storm of 
American projectiles. The credit of 



William Rufus Shafter was born 
at Galesburg, Michigan, October 16, 
1835. He was brought up on a farm 
and received a common school edu- 
cation. He entered the Union army 
as first lieutenant of the Seventh 
Michigan infantry. He rose in rank, 
and when mustered out of the volun- 
teer service, in 1865, entered the regu- 
lar army as lieutenant colonel. In 
1867 he was breveted colonel and 
given congressional honor for gallant 
conduct at the battle of Fair Oaks. 
Virginia. He was made a brigadier- 
general May 3, 1897, in charge of the 
department of California and later a 
major-general of volunteers ; May, 
1898, he went to Tampa, Florida ; 
afterward to Cuba, where he com- 
manded the military operations which 
ended in the surrender of Santiago 
de Cuba in July. 1898, while at the 
close of the war he received his share 
of criticism for some incidents of the 
campaign, j-et his personal gallantry 
and technical skill have never been 
questioned. His success in his chosen 
profession may be traced to his put- 
ting into practice the ruling axiom of 
his life, which he formulates thus: "I 
think that, when a man once finds the 
thing he likes, and for which he is 
best fitted, he is bound to like it 
always, and stick to it." 



this victory was claimed by Samp- 
son, but as he was absent at the time, Joseph Wheeler. 

it became ultimately recognized by General Joseph Wheeler gained 
the American people that Schley had "three stars" on his coat-collar, in 
fought and won the victory. His contending for the "Lost Cause." He 
ship was nearest to the Spanish now has the two stars of a United 



Encyclopedic Biographies, or 



States major-general in the Cuban 
war. General Wheeler was, from 
boyhood, a careful and painstaking 
student of the profession which he 
adopted. He was born at Augusta, 
Georgia, September lo, 1836. and was 
sent to West Point at seventeen. 
"While others were passing their leis- 
ure moments in sport, young Wheeler 
could be found in the library, poring, 
with deepest interest, over those vol- 
umes which spoke of campaigns and 
battles, both ancient and modern, and 
examining military maps and plans of 
battle of distinguished generals. From 
the cavalry school at Carlisle, Penn- 
sylvania, he went, in the spring of 
i860, to New Mexico, and, in March, 
1861, returned to Georgia. He be- 
came a first lieutenant of Confedera.te 
artillery at Pensacola, and led the 
Nineteenth Alabama infantry regi- 
ment as colonel. At Shiloh he had 



two horses shot under him, and is 
said to have carried the regimental 
colors in his own hands. On the re- 
treat from Kentucky, Colonel Wheel- 
er, as chief of cavalry, covered the 
movement. During this campaign, he 
met the enemy in thirty fights and 
skirmishes. Having been made a 
brigadier-general, on recommenda- 
tion of Bragg, Polk, Hardee and 
Buckner, he was sent to Middle Ten- 
nessee. The Union troops at that 
time reported that "not a nubbin of 
corn was obtained without fighting 
for it." Here he received the sobri- 
quet of "The Little Hero." General 
Wheeler was sick when the Ameri- 
can troops attacked Santiago, but he 
hastened on a litter to the point of 
danger, and by his words and exam- 
ple stimulated his men to victory. 
He was retired as brigadier-general 
September 10, 1900. 



EXPLORERS. 



Evelyn Briggs Baldwin. 
Evelyn B. Baldwin 



the well- 
known arctic explorer, was born in 
Springfield, Missouri. July 2, 1862. 
He is the son of Elias Briggs Bald- 
win, who served with distinction dur- 
ing the Civil war. The subject of 
this sketch was educated at the pub- 
lic schools in Dupage county, Illi- 
nois, and, on graduating from the 
Northwestern college, Naperville, Illi- 
nois, taught in district schools for 
some time. After an experience as 
professional pedestrian and bicyclist 
in Europe, he returned to this coun- 



pedition to North Greenland in the 
capacity of meteorologist. In 1897 
he made a voyage to the Andree bal- 
loon station in Spitzbergen, hoping to 
join that ill-fated scientist,, but ar- 
rived a few days too late. In 1898 
he accompanied Wellman's polar ex- 
pedition as meteorologist, and secured 
valuable data in connection with 
same. He also organized and com- 
manded the Baldwin-Ziegler polar 
expedition in 1901. He is the author 
of several works on arctic explora- 
tion and is the member of a number 
of scientific societies. 



trv and was appointed principal of _ 

high schools and superintendent of Frederick Albert Cook 
city schools in Kansas. Next we -^^ ■- < < « 

hear of him as attached to the United 
States weather bureau and becoming 
inspector-at-large of the signal corps 
of the United States army. In 1883 
he was a member of the Peary ex- 



Dr. Frederick A. Cook, physician 
by profession and explorer by incli- 
nation, was born in Callicoon Depot, 
Sullivan county. New York, on June 
10. 1865. He is the son of Dr. Theo- 
dore Albert Cook and was first edu- 



The Romance of Reality. 



cated in Brooklyn, graduated from 
the University of the City of New- 
York in 1890, and received his medi- 
cal degree from that institution in 
the same year. His work of explora- 
tion has been confined to the arctic 
regions. He was surgeon of the 
Peary expedition in 1891 and acted in 
the like capacity for the Belgium 
antarctic expedition in 1897. Dr. 
Cook has a fertile pen, and it is 
mainly through its efforts that he is 
as well known to the American peo- 
ple as he is. He has contributed lib- 
erally to the leading magazines, writ- 
ing on the problems of the north and 
south poles : is the author of a mono- 
graph on the Patagonians. and has 
published a work entitled The First 
Antarctic Night. He is a member 
of a number of scientific societies, has 
been decorated by King Leopold of 
Belgium and has received medals 
from foreign geological societies as a 
recognition of his services in the 
lines indicated. 

S\TN Anders Hedin. 

The ancient Norseman's desire to 
wander and to conquer still stirs the 
blood of many of his modern de- 
scendants. Happily nowadays, the 
wandering is done for the benefit of 
humanity and the conquests are those 
of peace and not of the "Swan Path." 
Sven Anders Hedin, explorer and 
geographer, is a case in point. He 
was born at Stockholm, February 
19, 1865, and is the son of Ludwig 
Hedin, official chief architect of 
Stockholm. When a mere child he 
exhibited the traits that distinguished 
his later years, and there are many 
stories told of how his parents were 
kept on the alert to prevent their 
baby — for he w-as not much more — 
from playing truant, which he did 
whenever the opportunity offered. 
The boy was indeed father to the 
man. and his parents, on his finishing 



his education, had the wisdom not 
to attempt to thwart his expressed 
desire to become an explorer. Had 
they done so the world would pos- 
sess much less geographical knowl- 
edge than it now does. After courses 
in the universities of Stockholm, Up- 
sala, Berlin and Halle, he began his 
travels. The Orient attracted him, 
and he made journeys through Per- 
sia and Mesopotamia. In 1895 he 
was a member of King Oscar's em- 
bassy to the Shah of Persia. He is 
best known in connection with his 
explorations in Asia, those of Khor- 
asan, Turkestan and Thibet being 
especially notable. Hedin is the au- 
thor of many works on travel and 
has contributed largely to those jour- 
nals w-hich are published in the in- 
terest of science of geography. 

E. Burton Holmes. 

E. Burton Holmes, who is well 
known to the American public 
through his lectures on foreign coun- 
tries, was born in Chicago, January 
8, 1870. He is the son of Ira and 
Virginia (Burton) Holmes. Edu- 
cated at first in the Allen academy, 
and subsequently in the Harvard 
school, Chicago, he, not long after 
his graduation, began to evince that 
uncontrollable desire to see the world 
which is innate in the breast of the 
born explorer. Notwithstanding that 
he is still a comparatively young man, 
Mr. Holmes has managed, since he 
attained his majority, to visit Japan, 
Algeria. Corsica, Greece and Thes- 
saly. He has also taken part in an 
expedition sent under the auspices of 
a scientific organization to Fez, Mo- 
rocco. All of the continental coun- 
tries of Europe are known to him, as 
are the Hawaiian Islands, the Philip- 
pine Islands and China. He has vis- 
ited the Yellowstone Park and the 
Grand Canyon of the Colorado river. 
His first appearance on the lecture 



533 



Encyclopedic Biographies, or 



platform was in 1890, and since then 
he has appeared in nearly all of the 
American cities. Mr. Holmes has 
graphic powers of description, which 
explains the popularity of his ad- 
dresses. His lectures have been pub- 
lished in book form. 

A.. H. Savage Landor. 

The power of purpose is empha- 
sized in the career of A. H. Savage 
Landor,, artist and explorer. Son 
of Charles Savage Landor, and the 
grandson of Walter Savage Landor, 
author and poet, he was born in 
Florence, Italy; was educated in that 
city, and afterward went to Paris 
to study art. There he entered the 
studio of Julian, one of whose favor- 
ite pupils he soon became. There is 
every likelihood that he would have 
become prominent in art circles had 
it not been for his keen desire for 
travel. So deserting the easel for the 
knapsack, he visited Japan, China, 
Corea, Mongolia, India, Napaul, Thi- 
bet, America, Australia, Africa and 
other countries. He lived for some 
time among a curious race of aborig- 
ines known as the Hairy Ainu, in the 
wilds of Northern Japan. Mr. Landor 
is best known to the reading pub- 
lic by reason of his explorations in 
Thibet and the remarkable book 
which was the fruit thereof. During 
his sojourn in "The Forbidden 
Country" he underwent incredible 
hardships, and as a result of the tor- 
tures inflicted upon him by the na- 
tives who held him prisoner for some 
time, he will probably be a sufferer 
to the end of his days. A man, who 
when riding on a saddle studded 
with sharp spikes, can take note of 
the physical features of the surround- 
ing country and can calculate the 
height of the plateau over which he 
is passing in agony must be molded 
from that kind of stufif of which hero 
adventurers are made. Likewise does 



he show the power of a purpose over 
the dangers and difficulties that 
threaten to thwart it. 

Fridtjof Nansen. 

Of the several explorers who have 
endeavored to solve the mysteries of 
the Arctic regions, none perhaps is 
better known than Fridtjof Nansen, 
a descendant of the old Vikings. He 
was born in Christiania, October 10, 
1861, and is the son of a lawyer well 
known in Norwegian legal circles. 
After an education, which began at 
home, he graduated from the Uni- 
versity of Christiania, and immediate- 
ly began to exhibit those nomadic 
tendencies which distinguish the born 
explorer. His first trip to the far 
north was in 1882, when he made a 
voyage to the seas surrounding 
Greenland. Returning with much 
valuable geological and zoological 
data, he was appointed curator of the 
natural history museum at Bergen. 
In 1889 he took his second trip to the 
Arctic, when he succeeded in cross- 
ing Greenland. Subsequent thereto 
he was made curator of the Museum 
of Comparative Anatomy of Christi- 
ania university. His most memora- 
ble undertaking, however, was in 
1893, when he endeavored to reach 
the North Pole. Although he did not 
accomplish his object, he succeeded 
in getting nearer to it than had any 
of his predecessors. On that occa- 
sion he spent three years in the Arctic 
region, and again returned laden with 
data which, from a scientific stand- 
point, was invaluable. He was next 
appointed professor of zoology of the 
Christiania university. Nansen has 
published several books dealing with 
his life work, including Esquimaux 
Life, Across Greenland and Farthest 
North. He has also written a num- 
ber of articles for magazines. He mar- 
ried Eva Sears, who was well known 
in musical circles of the continent. 



534 



The Romance of Reality. 



Robert Edwin Peaky. 

Robert Edwin Peary, llic brilliant 
Arctic explorer, was born at Cres- 
son, Pennsylvania, May 6, 1856. After 
a course in public schools he entered 
Bowdoin college, graduating there- 
from in 1877. In 1881 he was ap- 
pointed civil engineer to the United 
States navy. From 1884 to 1885 he 
acted as assistant engineer in the sur- 
veys for the Nicaraugua ship canal, 
and from 1887 to 1888 w-as engineer 
in charge of further surveys for the 
same project. In this connection he 
invented the rolling lock-gate for 
canals. He inaugurated his career 
as Arctic explorer in 1886, when he 
made his famous reconnaissance of 
the Greenland inland ice cap, a thinjg 
that none of his predecessors had at- 
tempted. In 1891 he undertook an- 
other expedition to the north under 
the auspices of the Academy of Nat- 
ural Sciences of Philadelphia. He 
also determined the insularity of 
Greenland, for which he received 
medals from a number of scientific 
organizations. Still another voyage 
was made in 1893, and a year later 
he discovered the famous Iron Moun- 
tain, which proved to consist of three 
meteorites, one of them weighing 
ninety tons. Some of the meteorites 
he brought back with him during a 
summer trip made in 1896. In 1898 
he again started north in an endeavor 
to reach the North Pole, but was not 
successful. Lieutenant Peary married 
Josephine Diebitsch in 1888. He is 
the author of several books on his 
work in the arctic regions and of a 
great many papers in geological jour- 
nals and popular magazines. He 
once remarked that even Polar ice 
would melt "by heat of effort," mean- 
ing that any obstacle can be destroyed 
by enthusiasm and persistency. 

Henry Morton Stanley. 

The career of Sir Henry M. Stan- 



ley is nut only of a more or less 
romantic nature, but furnishes les- 
sons that are as obvious as they are 
useful. Beginning life as an un- 
known boy, he is now one of the 
best-known, as he is the most highly 
honored of men. And he has thus 
achieved, through the medium of his 
stalwart mental and physical attri- 
butes. Sir Henry was born in Den- 
bigh, Wales, and emigrated to the 
United States in 1856. He was adopt- 
ed by a New Orleans merchant, 
whose name he now bears. Coming 
north, he became connected with the 
New York Herald, and in 1870 was 
sent to Africa by that newspaper, in 
order to explore some of the then un- 
known sections of that country. Re- 
turning to America, in 1874, he was 
ordered at brief notice by James Gor- 
don Bennett, of the Herald, to find 
Dr. Livingston, the late famous trav- 
eler and missionary, from whom no 
tidings had been heard for some 
time. Stanley successfully carried 
out the instructions. Subsequently 
he discovered the source of the Con- 
go, and still later his explorations, 
undertaken at the request of the 
King of Belgium, resulted in the 
foundation of the Congo Free State. 
He also commanded the Emin Pasha 
relief expedition. Since 1895 he has 
been a member of the British parlia- 
ment. His books are many and have 
for the most part to do with his ad- 
ventures and experiences in Africa. 
He was knighted by the late Queen 
Victoria for his services to science as 
explorer. 

Walter Well man. 

Walter Wellman. journalist and 
explorer, was born in Mentor. Ohio, 
November 5. 1858. He was educated 
in the district schools, and during his 
boyhood gave evidence of his jour- 
nalistic instincts, for when hut four- 
teen years of age he established a 



535 



Encyclopedic Biographies, or 



weekly newspaper at Sutton, Nebras- 
ka. When he attained his majority, 
he founded the Cincinnati Evening 
Post, the venture being of a success- 
ful nature. For many years he was 
political and Washington correspond- 
ent of the Chicago Herald and 
Times-Herald. Mr. Wellman, in 
1892, succeeded in locating the land- 
ing place of Christopher Columbus, 
on Watling Island, in the Bahamas, 
and erected a monument upon the 
spot. In 1894 he took his initial trip 



to the Arctic regions, making ex- 
plorations on the northeastern coast 
of Spitzbergen. Four years later he 
explored Franz Josef Land, where he 
discovered many new islands and 
made valuable contributions to Arctic 
geography. As a writer on subjects 
connected with the frozen north, he 
is well known by reason of his arti- 
cles in leading magazines. He has 
also written on political and general 
topics. 



EDUCATORS. 



Elisha Benjamin Andrews. 

Elisha Benjamin Andrews was born 
at Hinsdale, New Hampshire, Janu- 
ary 10, 1844. He received a public 
school education, meantime working 
on a farm. At the outbreak of the 
Civil war, although onh seventeen 
years of age, he enlisted and served 
with distinction, being promoted to 
the rank of second lieutenant. A se- 
vere wound destroyed the sight of his 
left eye, and he received his honora- 
ble discharge in 1864. Forthwith pre- 
paring for college at Powers insti- 
tute, he later studied at Wesleyan 
academy, entered Brown university 
and was graduated in the class of 
1870. During the two years follow- 
ing he was principal of the Connecti- 
cut Literary institute at Suffield. In 
1874 he graduated from the Newton 
Theological institution and was the 
same year ordained pastor of the 
First Baptist church, Beverly, Mas- 
sachusetts. One year after he ac- 
cepted the presidency of Denison uni- 
versity, Granville, Ohio. Afterward 
he held the professorship of homo- 
letics, pastoral theology and church 
polity in Newton Theological institu- 
tion, where he remained three years. 
and after studying a year in Ger- 
many, he filled the chair of professor 



of history and economy in Brown 
university. In 1889 he was elected 
president of Brown university. He 
has always been noted for his interest 
in public questions and has been a 
liberal contributor to magazines and 
other periodicals. He has published 
several books on history, philosophy 
and economics. In 1870 he married 
Ella A. Allen, of Boston, and has 
had two children by her. 

Nicholas IMurray Butler. 

Nicholas Alurray Butler was born 
at Paterson, New Jersey, April 2, 
1862. He was educated in the public 
schools of his native city, where his 
father for many years had been presi- 
dent of the board of education. At 
sixteen he entered Columbia College, 
New York, and was graduated in 
1S82. The following year he received 
the degree of A.M. from his alma 
mater, and in 1884 the degree of 
Ph.D. The same year he visited Eu- 
rope, studying at the universities of 
Berlin and Paris. Upon returning to 
America, in 1886, he became an in- 
structor in philosophy in Columbia 
college. In 1890 he was made pro- 
fessor of philosophy, ethics and 
psychology. For a number of years 
he was president of the board of 



536 



The RoiiKince of Reality. 



education of Palerson, New Jersej-, 
and in 1887 he organized the New 
York college for the training of 
teachers, and which is now the 
Teachers' college, Columbia univer- 
sitJ^ In 1891 he founded the maga- 
zine Educational Review, which he 
has edited ever since and which is 
probably the foremost educational 
publication in the world. He is also 
the editor of the Teachers' Profes- 
sional Library and has published nu- 
merous educational essays and ad- 
dresses. In 1894 he became an ex- 
aminer for the state of New York, 
and in the same year was elected 
president of the National Educa- 
tional association. In September, 
1901, he was elected president of Co- 
lumbia university to succeed Seth 
Low. On February 7, 1887, he mar- 
ried Susanna Edwards Schuyler. One 
daughter is the issue of the union. 

Charles William Eliot. 

Charles William Eliot was born in 
Boston March 20, 18.34. After a 
period spent in the public schools he 
was prepared for college at the Bos- 
ton Latin school, and entering Har- 
vard he graduated in 1852. After 
graduation he took a position as tutor 
of mathematics in Harvard and went 
through an advanced course in chem- 
istry with Professor Josiah P. Cook. 
In 1858 he undertook a trip to Eu- 
rope to investigate its educational 
methods and make a further study of 
chemistry. From 1865 to 1869 he 
was professor of analytical chemistry 
in the Massachusetts institute of tech- 
nology. In 1867 he was elected a fel- 
low of the .\merican academy of arts 
and sciences, and also became a mem- 
ber of the American philosophical so- 
ciety. He has delivered many note- 
worthy addresses on educational and 
scientific subjects and has written a 
number of text books, essays and 
educational contributions to periodi- 



cals. His principal workr are text- 
books on chemistry, which were writ- 
ten in conjunction with Professor 
Francis H. Storer. In 1869 he was 
elected president of Harvard univer- 
sity. He is a member of many scien- 
tific societies and is regarded as an 
authority on abstruse questions and 
problems of chemistry and allied 
sciences. 

William Herbert Perry Faunce. 

The Rev. W. H. P. Faunce, D.D., 
the new president of Brown univer- 
sity. Providence, Rhode Island, is not 
an example of success under difficul- 
ties. He has never experienced re- 
verses, and he has always improved 
his opportunities. His father, Thomas 
Faunce, was a prominent clergyman 
at Worcester, Massachusetts, and 
had preached in Plymouth, in that 
state, which is the home of many 
generations of the family. I called 
upon Dr. Faunce, and was invited 
into his study. He is only forty years 
of age, a courteous, broad-minded 
gentleman. "I was born in Worces- 
ter," he said, "but received a public 
school' education at Concord and at 
Lynn^ and in 1876 entered Brown 
university. After I was graduated, I 
taught for a year in mathematics, 
during the absence of a professor in 
Europe. I always intended to be- 
come a minister, and I entered New- 
ton Theological Seminary. Eight 
months before graduation, I preached 
one Sunday in the State Street Bap- 
tist church, of Springfield, Massachu- 
setts. It Wu a large church, having 
a membership of seven hundred and 
fifty. I did not know that the pulpit 
was vacant, and, peculiarly enough, 
chose for my text the sentence, 'I 
that speak unto you am He.' At the 
close of the services, I was asked to 
be their pastor, and, after I was 
graduated from the seminary, I was 
ordained. It was in 1880 that I was 



537 



Encyclopedic Biographies, 



or 



asked to preach as a candidate in the 
Fifth Avenue Baptist church, of New 
York, which I regret to leave. I re- 
fused to be a candidate ; but mem- 
bers continually came to Springfield 
to hear me, and finally I was called 
All along I have been more or less 
identified with college work, and my 
congregation tell me they have been 
expecting I would leave and devote 
myself to educational lines. For a 
number of years, I have been one of 
a board of preachers at Harvard, 
preaching there three weeks in the 
autumn, and three in the winter, and 
for six weeks each summer (the 
summer quarter), at the University 
of Chicago, where I also taught in 
theology. Again, I have preached 
quite regularly at Cornell, Amherst, 
Wellesley and Brown." "Have other 
colleges asked you to become presi- 
dent?" "Yes; that is, two official 
boards of two colleges have sounded 
and invited me, but I considered that 
my work here was too important. 
Brown, however, is my alma mater." 
"You must spend much time in 
study," I remarked. "I have always 
kept my studies up," replied Dr. 
Faunce. "I have been abroad three 
times to study German, French and 
philosophy. I am a great believer in 
constant work." "Success? you ask. 
Why, success involves the complete 
expression of all of one's powers,, and 
every one leaves a lasting impression 
on the life of the world. The man 
w^ho is sincere in the expressing of 
himself, in whatever line it may be, 
Iiecomes a factor in the world. Gen- 
uine success is the kind that is helpful 
to others, as well as to the one who 
is striving. Every other kind falls 
short of the mark and becomes stale. 
How to achieve success? you ask. 
Show strong, absolute whole-hearted- 
ness in whatever you undertake ; 
throw yourself, body, mind and soul, 
into whatever you do. Patiently mas- 



ter details, ^lost of the men that I 
know who have failed have ignored 
details, — have considered them petty 
and insignificant. They have not re- 
alized the importance of small 
things." "Do you think the average 
man appreciates this?" I asked. "No." 
Here Dr. Faunce was called away for 
a moment, and I picked up a book 
of Browning's poems. These lines in 
"Christmas Eve" were marked: 

Whom do you count the Worse man upon earth? 
Be sure he knows, in his conscience, more 
Of what Right is. than arrives at birth. 

When he returned I asked : "Do 
you think that the worse individual, 
a useless member of society, can ele- 
vate himself and be of consequence?" 
"Most decidedly, and through work, 
congenial work. The happiest hours 
of a man's life should be when he is 
working. A man will not succeed 
who is continually looking for the 
end of the day. Vacations are neces- 
sary, but they are for the sake of 
work and success." 

Arthur Twining Hadley. 

The father of Arthur Twining 
Hadley, now president of Yale, was 
Professor James Hadley, a Yale 
graduate of 1842. He was a tutor at 
Yale three years, and, in 1857, he 
took President Woolsey's place as 
professor of Greek. This place he 
held until his death, in 1872. His 
mother was Ann Twining, an intel- 
lectual woman, who completed the 
full Yale course in mathematics be- 
fore the days of the "new woman." 
Thus, young Hadley was, as Oliver 
Wendell Holmes might say, "fortu- 
nate in the choice of his parents." 
He first saw the light at New Haven, 
April 23, 1856. Becoming a Yale 
graduate, in 1876, he was the valedic- 
torian of his class. He spent some 
years in Berlin, and became a tutor 
in 1879, a lecturer at Yale (and Har- 



538 



The Romance of Reality. 



yztd) on poiiticar science in 1883, 
and a oroiessor in .tc<6f). He had also 
done jouruaiistic work on several 
xiertspapers. His worK on "Railway 
legislation" has been translated into 
French and German, and twice into 
Russian. He made two reports as 
commissioner of labor statistics for 
Connecticut, in 1885 and 1886. He 
wrote, at the Harpers' solicitaiion, 
the article on "Yale" in their well- 
known volume, "Four Universities." 
In 1891 he married Helen Harrison, 
daughter of Governor Luzon B. Mor- 
ris, of Connecticut. President Had- 
ley is the ideal educator, learned, 
sympathetic, progressive and possess- 
ing an intimate acquaintance with the 
details and duties of his onerous posi- 
tion. 

William Torrey Harris. 

William Torrey Harris was born 
North Killingly, Connecticut, Sep- 
tember 10, 1835. He was educated in 
local common schools and academies, 
and for two and a half years was a 
member of the Yale college class of 
1858, but left before graduating. In 
1857 he went to St. Louis, where, for 
some time, he acted as teacher, prin- 
cipal, assistant superintendent and 
superintendent of public schools. At 
the Paris exposition of 1878 thirteen 
volumes of reports prepared by Mr. 
Harris, and contributed to the edu- 
cational exhibit of the United States, 
attracted such attention that he was 
given the honorary title of officier 
de I'Academie. The reports were 
placed in the pedagogical library of 
the Paris ministry of public instruc- 
tions. ^^'hen Mr. Harris resigned, in 
1880, on account of failing health, the 
city of St. Louis presented him with 
a gold medal and a purse of $1000. 
He next visited Europe, representing 
the United States bureau of educa- 
tion at the international congress of 
educators held at Brussels in 18S0. In 



1889 he again represented the United 
States bureau of education at the 
Paris exposition, and on December 
12 of the same year he was appointed 
United States commissioner of edu- 
cation and removed to Washington, 
D. C. Mr. Harris has contributed 
many educational articles to the mag- 
azines and was the founder of the 
Journal of Speculative Philosophy. 

Henry Mitchell McCracken. 

Henry Mitchell McCracken was 
born at Oxford, Ohio, September 28, 
1840. His early education was ob- 
tained in the public schools and later 
at Miami university, from whence he 
graduated in 1857. He also studied 
at the United Presbyterian theologi- 
cal seminary at Zenia, Ohio, at the 
Princeton theological seminary, and 
at Tubingen and Berlin universities. 
His first professional work was that 
of a teacher of classics and a public 
school superintendent. From 1857 to 
i860 he was pastor of the Westmins- 
ter church at Columbus, Ohio, and 
later of the Presbyterian church at 
Toledo, Ohio. In 1868, he was elect- 
ed chancellor of the Western univer- 
sity, at Pittsburg, and in 1880 was 
made vice-chancellor and professor of 
philosophy in the New York univer- 
sity, which position he held until 
1891, when he was made chancellor. 
He is the author of numerous educa- 
tional and theological works. In i87.» 
he married Catherine Hubbard. Chan- 
cellor McCracken's life work has 
had a dominating influence on educa- 
tional theories and methods in this 
country. His powers of professional 
expansion have enabled him to keep 
pace with the drift of modern 
thought and sentiment. 



WooDROw Wilson. 

Woodrow Wilson was born at 
Staunton, Virginia, December 28, 
1856. He is of Scotch ancestry. 



539 



Encyclopedic Biographies, or 



After being trained in private schools 
of Augusta, Georgia, and Columbia, 
South Carolina, he graduated from 
Princeton in 1879, and then studied 
law at the University of Virginia. 
Being admitted to the bar, he prac- 
ticed for a year in Atlanta, Georgia, 
and later entered Johns Hopkins uni- 
versity for a graduating course in 
history and politics. In 1885 he was 
chosen as an instructor in history 
and politics at Bryn Mawr college 
and in 1886 he received the degree of 
Ph.D. from Johns Hopkins univer- 
sity. In 1888 he was a member of the 
faculty in Wesleyan university, and 



in 1890 was called to the chair of 
jurisprudence at Princeton. In Au- 
gust, 1902, he was elected president 
of Princeton to succeed President 
Patton. He has published a number 
of educational text-books and his- 
torical, biographical and political 
works. His most recent and perhaps 
most important work is a history of 
the American people, issued in five 
volumes. President Wilson is well 
known as a lecturer on military and 
political subjects,, through the medium 
of his contributions to various peri- 
odicals. 



EDITORS. 



Henry Mills Alden. 

Harper's Magazine is one of the 
classics in the vast library of monthly 
publications. Magazines, like people, 
liave their periods of elevation and 
depression. But Harper's has main- 
tained a steady level of high-class 
individuality, this being due in no 
small degree to the work of Henry 
Mills Alden, who, since 1869, has 
been its editor-in-chief. Mr. Alden 
was born at Mount Tabor, near Dan- 
by, Vermont, November 11, 1836. He 
attended public school at Hoosick 
Falls, New York, graduated from 
Williams college in 1857, and from 
the Andover theological seminary in 
i860, but he never took orders. His 
literary bent was made manifest early 
in life, and, after much general work 
with his pen, he became managing 
editor of Harper's Weekly, which 
position he held until he was put in 
charge of the magazine. For some 
time he was lecturer at the Lowell 
institute, Boston. He is the author 
of some religious books, and also of 
Harper's Pictorial History of the 
Great Revolution, Mr. A. H. Guern- 
sey being associated with him in the 



production of that work. Mr. Alden's 
life story is that of a man who, hav- 
ing a purpose, hopes tin and works 
on, ceasing not until his hopes are 
lost in full fruition. 

Edward William Bok. 

Edward William Bok, who, since 
1888, has been the editor of the La- 
dies' Home Journal, was born in 
Helder, Holland, October 9, 1863. He 
came to this country wath his parents 
when six years of age and was edu- 
cated in the public schools of Brook- 
lyn. He then learned stenography 
and entered the employ of the West- 
ern Union Telegraph Company. Find- 
ing that his position had no future 
for him, he, in 1884, became connect- 
ed with the firm of Henry Holt & 
Co., publishers, and later with the 
Scribner firm, with which he re- 
mained. His industry and integrity 
gained for him the respect of his em- 
ployers, and when finally he became 
desirous of securing the control of 
the publication of which he is now 
owner, he had no difificulty in obtain- 
ing the needed capital with which to 
accomplish his desires. Mr. Bok is 



540 



The Romance of Reality. 



married and is the author of "A 
Young Man In Business," "Success- 
ward," etc, 

James Monroe Buckley. 

Of the several publications which 
voice the views of the religious 
world, perhaps none is better known 
or more generally read than is the 
New York Christian Advocate. Un- 
der the editorship of the Rev. Dr. 
James M. Buckley, the Advocate has 
become more than a mere retlex of 
the opinions of its contributors. It 
is a power for good and the extent 
of its usefulness is only bounded by 
the limits of its circulation, which 
are world-w'ide. Dr. Buckley was 
born in Rahway, New Jersey, De- 
cember i6. 1836, his father being the 
Rev. John Buckley. Educated at 
first in Pennington, New Jersey, 
seminary, he later spent a year in 
the Wcsleyan university, and after- 
ward studied theology at Exeter, 
New Hampshire. He became a mem- 
ber of the New Hampshire confer- 
ence of the Methodist Episcopal 
church in 1858, was called to Troy in 
1863, and to Brooklyn three years 
later. Dr. Buckley has traveled ex- 
tensively, and no small portion of the 
popularity of his work on the Advo- 
cate is due to the wide experience of 
men and manners which he acquired 
during his wanderings abroad and in 
this country. He is the author of 
several books, including Travels on 
Three Continents, Land of the Czar 
and the Nihilists, The History of 
Methodism in the United States and 
others. Dr. Buckley's literary work 
in general is distinguished by a 
breadth of view and a charity of 
spirit which are only possible to the 
man of large mind and wide horizons. 

RicH.\RD Watson Gilder. 

If a magazine contributor was G 
asked what, in his opinion, represent- 



ed the ultimate happiness of his ilk, he 
would probably reply, "the editorship 
of the Century." That enviable posi- 
tion is at present held by Richard W. 
Gilder, and that Mr. Gilder has done 
honor to the wisdom which placed 
him in the editorial chair, is made 
manifest by the body matter of the 
magazine itself. He was born in 
Bordentown, New Jersey, February 
8, 1844, his father being the Rev. 
William H. Gilder, and he was edu- 
cated in the seminary established by 
his father at Flushing, Long Island. 
In 1863 he became a private in Lan- 
dis' Philadelphia battery, and, at the 
expiration of his term of service, had 
a year's experience as a railroad man. 
Later he was correspondent, and 
afterward managing editor, of the 
Newark (New Jersey) Advertiser. 
From that time on Mr. Gilder has 
lived in an editorial atmosphere. In 
connection with Newton Crane he 
established the Newark Register, 
next edited the defunct New York 
monthly publication called Powers at 
Home, made his mark while so doing, 
attracted the notice of the Scribner 
management, and was made manag- 
ing editor of its magazine in 1870 and 
editor-in-chief in 1881. Mr. Gilder 
has taken a prominent part in move- 
ments and organizations which had 
for their object the improvement of 
municipal conditions. He has held 
office as chairman of the New York 
tenement house commission, was the 
first president of the New York kin- 
dergarten association and is president 
of the Public Art League of the 
United States. He is also a member 
of the City club and of the Civil 
Service Reform league. His pub- 
lished books of poems include The 
Celestial Passion. Five Books of 
Songs and Two Worlds. 

EORGE Burton McClellan Harvey. 
One of the most prominent, as 



541 



Encyclopedic Biographies, or 



well as one of the youngest occu- 
pants of an editorial chair is George 
Burton McClellan Harvey, who is 
president of the famous publishing 
firm of Harper & Brothers and 
editor of the North American Re- 
view. He was born at Peachan, Ver- 
mont, February i6, 1864, being the 
son of Duncan and Margaret S. 
(Varnum) Harvey. Educated at 
Peachan Academy, Mr. Harvey be- 
gan his journalistic life by becoming 
reporter on the Springfield (Massa- 
chusetts) Republican. Subsequently 
he was on the reportorial staff of the 
Chicago News and the New York 
Herald, of which latter newspaper he 
was eventually made managing edi- 
tor. He bought the North American 
Review in March, 1899, and was 
placed in charge of Harper & 
Brothers' affairs a year later. Not- 
withstanding the onerous nature of 
his editorial duties, Mr. Harvey finds 
time to act as president of several 
electric railroads, in the construction 
of which he was also interested. Gov- 
ernors Green and Abbott, of New 
Jersey, respectively appointed him 
colonel and aide-de-camp on their 
staffs. The irresistible force of char- 
acter and ability properly directed is 
shown by the career of Mr. Harvey. 

George Howard Lorimer. 

Horace Greeley is credited with the 
aphorism that "It is the man and not 
the machine, the editor and not the 
newspaper, that brings about the 
smooth running of the first and the 
popularity of the second.'" George 
Howard Lorimer, editor-in-chief of 
the Saturday Evening Post, furnishes 
an excellent illustration of the verity 
of Greeley's assertion. Under his 
management, the Post has, during 
the past few years, attained a popu- 
larity which was forbidden to it be- 
fore he took charge of its affairs. 
The Post vi^s founded by Benjamin 



Franklin, and it is the policy of Mr. 
Lorimer to retain somewhat of the 
quaint features of its earlier issues, 
but he weds them to modern methods. 
By means of this policy he has suc- 
ceeded in galvanizing a moribund 
publication into active and prosper- 
ous life. Mr. Lorimer was born in 
Louisville, Kentucky, October 6, 1868, 
and is the son of the Rev. Dr. George 
and Belle (Burford) Lorimer. He 
was educated at the Moseley high 
school in Chicago, and took courses 
at Colby and Yale universities. In 
1893 he married Alma Viola, daugh- 
ter of Judge Alfred Ennis, of Chi- 
cago. ^Ir. Lorimer has, through the 
medium of the Saturday Evening 
Post, proven that literary matter of 
a helpful and elevating nature can be 
made as attractive to the average 
reader as so-called "popular fiction.'' 

Whitelaw Reid. 

Whitelaw Reid, the editor of the 
New York Tribune, was born in 
Xenia, Ohio, October 27. 1837, and is 
a graduate of ]\Iiami university, Ox- 
ford, Ohio. After leaving college Mr. 
Reid entered journalisni, becoming 
editor of the Xenia News. In i860 
he was legislative correspondent, and 
a year later was war correspondent 
for several newspapers. In 1862 he 
became Washington representative of 
the Cincinnati Gazette. After a period 
spent in the service of the govern- 
ment, including the acting as libra- 
rian in the House of Representatives, 
Mr. Reid in 1866 tried his hand at 
cotton planting in Louisiana. But the 
newspaper instinct was too strong 
in him to warrant his being anything 
but a writer. In 1868, therefore, he 
became a member of the editorial 
staff of the Tribune ; in 1869 he was 
appointed its managing editor and 
has been its editor-in-chief and prac- 
tical proprietor since 1872. In 1877 
he declined the appointment of United 



542 



The Romance of Reality. 



States minister to Germany and 
again in 1881. In 1889 he was United 
States minister to France, was spe- 
cial ambassador from this country to 
Queen Victoria's Jubilee in 1897, and 
was a member of the Peace commis- 
sion in Paris in 1898. He was nomi- 
nated for the vice-presidency in 1892. 
Air. Reid is the author of a number 
of books on political and journalistic 
questions. His life has been full of 
many but faithfully discharged duties. 

Albert Shaw. 

Albert Shaw, editor of the Ameri- 
can Review of Reviews, was born in 
Shandon, Butler county, Ohio, July 
23, 1857. He is the son of Dr. Grif- 
fin and Susan (Fisher) Shaw, Grad- 
uating from Iowa college, Grinnell, 
Iowa, in 1879. he became part owner 
of the Grinnell Herald, while taking 
a post-graduate course in constitu- 
tional history and economic science. 
He also studied history and political 
science at the Johns Hopkins univer- 
sity. All this was preparatory to en- 
tering the profession which he had 
chosen as his life work. Next he be- 
came editorial writer on the Minne- 
apolis Tribune in 1882, studied jour- 
nalism in Europe for a year, and in 
1891 began to conduct the well- 
known publication with which he is 
now identified. Mr. Shaw is the au- 
thor of a number of works on munic- 
ipal government and political 
science, on which subjects he is ac- 
cepted as an authority. He is a mem- 



ber of many learned societies and is 
well known on the lecture platforms 
of the universities and colleges of 
this country. Mr. Shaw is an excel- 
lent example of the value of thorough 
preparatory work looking to a given 
career. 

Henry Watterson. 

Henry Watterson, who is responsi- 
ble for the editorial policy of the 
Louisville Courier-Journal, was born 
in Washington, D. C., February 16, 
1840. He was educated by private 
tutors, this owing to his being threat- 
ened with blindness. During the war 
he acted as staff officer in the Con- 
federate army. When peace was es- 
tablished he at once engaged in 
newspaper work, and has ever since 
been more or less conspicuous in the 
field of journalism. Elected a mem- 
ber of congress in 1875, he has since, 
although repeatedly offered office, 
uniformly declined it. He was dele- 
gate-at-large from Kentucky for six 
Democratic national conventions. Mr. 
Watterson is not only distinguished as 
a journalist and author, but he has a 
well-deserved reputation as an ora- 
tor. His command of the English 
language, allied to his general wit 
and braininess, have made his editor- 
ials famous throughout the country. 
He is the author of works on the 
Civil war and others. In 1865 he 
married the daughter of the Hon. 
Andrew Ewing, of Tennessee. 



PUBLISHERS. 



Frank Nelson Doubleday. 

The founder of the flourishing 
publishing house of Doubleday, Page 
& Co.. of New York, is Frank Nel- 
son Doubleday, who was born in 
Brooklyn in 1862, being the son of 
W. E. Doubleday. He was educated 



at the Polytechnic institute of the 
City of Churches, and during his 
school days gave indications of his 
future career, for before he had fin- 
ished his studies he had established 
quite a flourishing job printing busi- 
ness among his schoolmates and 



543 



Encyclopedic Biographies, or 



friends. When fifteen years of age 
he got a position with the Scribners 
as errand boy, remaining with the 
firm for many years in a number of 
capacities. He founded the publica- 
tion entitled "The Book Buyer," and 
when Scribner's Magazine was start- 
ed he was made its manager and pub- 
lisher. The average young man 
would have been contented with this 
position, which was honorable, pro- 
fessionally, and lucrative, financially. 
But young Doubleday was ambitious, 
and so in 1897 he joined the S. S. 
McClure Company. After a brief 
stay with them, he formed the Dou- 
bleday & McClure Co., book pub- 
lishers. The firm flourished and pub- 
lished many works of well-known 
authors, including Rudyard Kipling's 
"Day's Work." It was at this time 
that a close friendship was formed 
between Mr. Doubleday and the fa- 
mous author. In 1900 Doubleday, 
Page & Co. came into existence, as- 
sociated with the senior partner being 
W. H. Page, former editor of the 
Atlantic, and H. W. Lanier, who is 
a son of the poet, Sydney Lanier, and 
others. The firm established World's 
Work, a magazine that achieved an 
immediate success. Another venture 
of the company was "Country Life 
in America," which is typographically 
and artistically very beautiful. This 
magazine, too, v/as an emphatic suc- 
cess. Mr. Doubleday is the author of 
a number of works, many of which 
have to do with natural history sub- 
jects, including "Bird Neighbors" 
and "Nature's Garden," both of 

■which are well known to students of 
nature. He married Neztze de Graff, 

a descendant of a historic Dutch 
family. 

Isaac Kauffman Funk. 

Originality has been a powerful 
factor in the career of the noted 
clergyman, editor and publisher, the 



Rev. Dr. Isaac Kaufifman Funk. He 
was born at Clifton, Greene county, 
Ohio, September 10, 1839. His pa- 
rents, John and Martha (Kauffman) 
Funk, were descendants of early Hol- 
land-Swiss emigrants to Pennsyl- 
vania. Graduating from Whittenberg 
college, Springfield, Ohio, with the 
degree of D.D., he from this same 
institution, in 1896, received the de- 
gree of LL.D. From 1861 to 1872 he 
was engaged in active work in the 
Lutheran ministry. At the end of 
that time he resigned his pastorate 
and traveled extensively in Europe, 
Egypt and Palestine. Upon return- 
ing to America he became associate 
editor of the Christian Radical. In 
1876 he founded and published in 
New York city the Metropolitan Pul- 
pit, now the Homiletic Review, act- 
ing as its editor-in-chief. His former 
college classmate, Adam W. Wag- 
nails, a lawyer of Atchison, Kansas, 
became in 1877 his partner, and the 
firm name was changed to I. K. Funk 
& Co., and later, in 1891, to Funk & 
Wagnalls Co. Their several branch 
houses in Canada and England, as 
well as their many published books 
which have met with public favor, 
testified to the business successes of 
the members of the concern. Dr. 
Funk is the founder of some well- 
known periodicals, among which The 
Voice, The Literary Digest and The 
Missionary Review are the most im- 
portant. He also published a stand- 
ard dictionary of the English lan- 
guage, of which he was editor-in- 
chief. The production of this work 
was a gigantic undertaking, costing 
nearly one million dollars. 

William Randolph Hearst. 

It is usually supposed, and rightly 
so, that a young man who inherits 
much wealth is not very likely to 
make his mark in the world. The 
career of William Randolph Hearst 



544 



The Romance of Reality. 



furnishes an exception to the general 
rule, however, for, in spite of being 
handicapped by a comfortable for- 
tune, he has achieved no small repu- 
tation as a newspaper editor and pub- 
lisher. Mr. Hearst was born in San 
Francisco, California, and is the son 
of the late United States Senator 
George F. Hearst. He is the owner 
of the San Francisco Examiner and 
other well-known newspapers. In 
1895 he bought the New York Jour- 
nal, later purchasing the Advertiser 
and consolidating it with the Jour- 
nal to secure a franchise. In 1900 
he founded the Chicago American, 
which paper has the largest morning 
circulation in the city in which it is 
published. At present Mr. Hearst is 
publishing altogether five large news- 
papers : two in New York, two in 
Chicago and one in San Francisco. 
He is a firm believer in the theory 
of so-called "yellow journalism," 
claiming that with its help he reaches 
the masses. His papers are noted 
chiefly for their brilliant editorials. 
Mr. Hearst advocates the cause of 
the laboring classes, is a member of 
congress, has been mentioned as a 
possible candidate for the Presiden- 
tial nomination on the Democratic 
ticket in 1904. 

Edward Everett Higgins. 

If you should ask Edward E. Hig- 
gins, the publisher of Success, what 
are the characteristics which have 
given him his present position in the 
publishing world, he would doubt- 
less reply. "Courage, persistence and 
patience." He has had an unusually 
varied training and experience. He 
was born on April 4, 1864. in Chel- 
sea, Massachusetts, and, after a pre- 
liminary education in the local gram- 
mar and high schools, which were 
then considered among the best in the 
state, he entered the Massachusetts 
Institute of Technology and was 



graduated as an electrical engineer 
in 1886. He obtained there the 
mathematical training which has re- 
mained with him ever since, and 
which has contributed not a little to 
his acknowledged power of distin- 
guishing between the possible and 
the impossible in both engineering 
and business matters. Foreseeing the 
great future of the electric street rail- 
road, he became associated, in its 
earliest development, with the 
Sprague and Edison companies, and 
it was largely through his efforts that 
electricity was first introduced into 
Buffalo and other cities of New York 
state. Acquiring a large fund of in- 
formation on street railroad matters 
at home and abroad, Mr. Higgins be- 
came, in 1893, the editor of the Street 
Railway Journal, and has won an 
international reputation as a statisti- 
cal,, engineering and financial expert 
on street railway matters. In 1899 he 
perceived an opportunity to develop 
a large and important home publica- 
tion from what was then a small and 
struggling periodical — Success — and 
acquired an interest, intending that it 
should be merely a side issue. But 
the phenomenally rapid growth of 
Success soon called for Mr. Higgins' 
entire time, and the result is seen iif 
the fact that Success, with its circu- 
lation of over 300,000, now, after only 
four years' time, is one of the first 
half-dozen American magazines in 
circulation, prestige and general 
standing, and no paper is more use- 
ful or valuable in the home. 

Louis Klopsch. 

No better example of the zealous 
religious worker, disinterested bene- 
factor and talented journalist can be 
cited than the subject of this sketch, 
Louis Klopsch. He was born in Ger- 
many, March 26, 1852, receiving only 
a common school education. In 
i856, after having removed to New 



S^S 



Encyclopedic Biographies, or 



York, he married May E., daughter 
of the Rev. Stephen Merritt. Be- 
coming interested in newspaper work, 
he became the proprietor of the Daily 
Reporter, New York. He was also 
owner of the Pictorial Associated 
Press from 1884 to 1890, and has had 
charge of the Talmage sermon syndi- 
cate since 1885. On his return from 
Palestine, in 1890, he became con- 
nected with the Christian Herald, 
which he purchased in 1892. Since 
that time he has, through his paper, 
raised and distributed nearly $2i,ooo,- 
000 in international charities. In 
recognition of his relief work, during 
the Russian famine of 1892, he was 
received by the Czar of Russia, and 
in 1898 the English and Indian gov- 
ernments extended official thanks to 
him for his services in behalf of 
famine-stricken India. President 
McKinley appointed him one of the 
three commissioners in charge of the 
relief of the starving Reconcentra- 
does in Cuba, and for this purpose he 
raised nearly $200,000. In the spring 
of 1900, accompanied by Gilson Wil- 
lets, Mr. Klopsch visited the famine 
and cholera fields of India, and 
through his paper, in six months' 
time, secured a fund of $700,000 for 
their relief. He has also guaranteed 
the support of five thousand famine 
orphans in India. 

Samuel Sidney McClure. 

One of the leading magazine pub- 
lishers of to-day, Samuel Sidney Mc- 
Clure, was born in County Antrim, 
Ireland, February 17. 1857. Being an 
ambitious youth, he naturally turned 
to America, "the land of opportu- 
nity." By his own earnest efiforts he 
succeeded in securing a liberal edu- 
cation, being graduated from Knox 
college, Illinois, in 1882, obtaining 
the degree of A. M. in 1887. Sep- 
tember 4, 1883, he was married to 
Harriet, daughter of Professor Al- 



bert Hurd, of Knox college, Gales- 
burg, Illinois. He established, in 
November, 1884, a newspaper syndi- 
cate, and in 1893 he founded Mc- 
Clure's Magazine, which ranks among 
the most popular periodicals of the 
day. His national reputation is large- 
ly due to this enterprise. His execu- 
tive ability has made him the presi- 
dent of the S. S. McClure Company, 
and he has been a trustee of Knox 
college since 1894. Mr. McClure has 
discovered and recognized a human 
need, and by filling that need is realiz- 
ing his well-merited success. 

Frank Andrew^ Munsey. 

The rise of Frank A. Munsey from 
a poor postoffice clerk in Augusta, 
Maine, to the head of one of the 
most profitable publishing houses in 
the world has been as rapid as it is 
remarkable. His only capital when 
he began his current business were 
his ideas and his nerve ; yet, in less 
than ten years, he has made a for- 
tune. Mr. Munsey was born in Mer- 
cer, Maine, August 21, 1854, the son 
of Andrew C. and Mary J. Munsey. 
After securing an ordinary educa- 
tion in the public schools of Maine, 
he began his business career in a 
country store, and later became man- 
ager of the Western Union telegraph 
office of Augusta, Maine. When, in 
1882, he went to New York and start- 
ed the Golden Argosy, a juvenile 
weekly (now the adult monthly, The 
Argosy), his friends thought he was 
as unwise as he was reckless. It is 
said that some of them actually pro- 
posed an inquiry into his sanity. Hav- 
ing made money by The Argosy, he 
invested it, in 1890, in a magazine, 
launching Munsey's Weekly, which 
he converted October, 1891, into 
Munsey's Magazine. He now also 
publishes The Puritan and the Junior 
Munsey, besides newspapers in New 
York and Washington. Although 



546 



The Romance of Reality. 



more widely known as a publisher 
than an author, he has written sev- 
eral books, including Atloat in a 
Great City, 1887; Boy Broker, 1888; 
Tragedy of Errors, 1889; Under Fire, 
1890, and Deering Forte, 1895. 

Joseph Pulitzer. 

Extraordinary energy and execu- 
tive ability and a Napoleonic faculty 
of perceiving and utilizing the talents 
of others, are the qualities upon 
which the journalist and publisher, 
Joseph Pulitzer, has built his reputa- 
tion and his fortune. He was born 
in Buda-Pesth. Hungary, April 10, 
1847, and. after receiving a classical 
education in his native citv, came to 
the United States at the age of six- 
teen. For two years he served as a 
private soldier in the Federal Army, 
and, afterward, failing to gain a 
foothold in New York city, he went 
to St. Louis, where he became a re- 
porter on the Westliche Post, a Ger- 
man newspaper then edited by Carl 
Schurz. Studying law, he was next 
admitted to the bar of Missouri. 
Then he was made managing editor 
of the Post, and in 1869 was sent to 
the Missouri legislature. In 1878 he 
bought the St. Louis Dispatch, unit- 
ing it with the Evening Post as the 
St. Louis Post-Dispatch, which is 
now one of the most successful pub- 
lications of the west. In 1883 Mr. 
Pulitzer purchased the New York 
World, which, thanks to his journal- 
istic genius, is now one of the most 
widely read newspapers published in 
New York city. He was elected to 
congress in New York for the term 
of 1885 to 1887. In 1890 he erected 
in Park Row one of the most strik- 
ing and costly newspaper buildings 
in the United States. In 1896 he was 
a r^trong advocate of the National 
(gold standard) Democratic party. 
Mr. Pulitzer has always been distin- 



guished by his generous and cour- 
teous treatment of his subordinates. 

John Brisben Walker. 

Among the leading magazine edi- 
tors of to-day is John Brisben Wal- 
ker, the author and publisher of the 
Cosmopolitan Magazine, who is also 
the founder of Cosmopolitan uni- 
versity. He was born in western 
Pennsylvania, September 10, 1847, 
and is the son of John and Anna 
(Krepps) Walker, and his early edu- 
cation was received at Gonzaga Clas- 
sical School, Washington, D. C. In 
1863, he entered Georgetown univer- 
sity, remaining there until he received 
appointment to the United States 
military academy at West Point, in 
1865. In 1868. however, he entered 
the Chinese military service, in which 
he remained for two years. Return- 
ing to America, he was married, in 
1870, to Emily, daughter of General 
David Hunter Strother. For the next 
three years he was engaged in manu- 
facturing in western Pennsylvania. 
In 1872 he was a candidate for con- 
gress on the Republican ticket, but 
was defeated. During the panic of 
1873 his entire fortune was swept 
away. But, in spite of political and 
financial failure. Mr. Walker rapidly 
forged to the front again. He next 
entered in journalism, and for three 
years was managing editor of the 
Washington (D. C.) Chronicle. Then 
he moved to Colorado, and for about 
nine years was a successful alfalfa 
farmer in that State. In 1889 he 
located in New York, and bought the 
Cosmopolitan Magazine, of which he 
is still the editor. The entire plant 
was moved to Irvington-on-Hudson 
in 1895. While Mr. Walker has 
achieved notable success in the maga- 
zine business, the most notable work 
of his life was the founding of the 
Cosmopolitan university in 1896. 



547 



Encyclopedic Biographies, or 



ORATORS. 



Albert J. Beveridge. 

When the Indiana legislature elect- 
ed Albert J. Beveridge to the United 
States senate in 1898, he was but 
thirty-six years of age, and with one 
exception was the youngest member 
of the distinguished body in question. 
Mr. Beveridge was born October 6, 
1862, in a log cabin of Highland 
county, Ohio, his father being a small 
farmer. When the war broke out the 
year preceding his birth, his father 
and his four half-brothers entered the 
army, while his mother volunteered 
as a nurse. Moving to Illinois, they 
settled near Sullivan, renting a small 
farm there. At the age of ten the 
future senator was a full-fledged 
farm hand. At fourteen he was a 
railroad laborer and at sixteen joined 
a logging camp. Whenever he could 
find no work he attended school. At 
the age of seventeen young Bever- 
idge heard that the district cadetship 
for West Point was to be filled by 
competitive examination. He was one 
of the competitors, and, although 
practically self-educated, took second 
place on a list of twenty-five. In 
1881 he managed to enter De Paw 
university, his capital consisting of 
$50. By wheat-cutting in the sum- 
mer, serving as a steward in the col- 
lege club, and winning money prizes 
offered to students, he managed to 
pay his way. Graduating from col- 
lege with high honors, he went direct 
to Indianapolis,, called on General 
Benjamin Harrison and asked per- 
mission to study law with him. Fail- 
ing in this, he obtained employment 
with Messrs. McDonald, Butler & 
Mason, well-known lawyers at the 
Indiana capital, and soon became a 
third partner in the firm. In 1889 he 
opened an office of his own, and his 
first fee was from Governor Hovey. 
His initial political speech was in 



1884, and, as someone has put it, he 
turned out to be "a revelation, a 
dream of oratory and a trip-hammer 
of argument." His fame as a speaker 
being established, he was in demand 
in all directions. His subsequent ca- 
reer is well-known to the public at 
large. In 1887 he married Miss Cath- 
erine Maud Langsdale, daughter of 
George J. Langsdale, the editor of a 
well-known paper in Indiana. 

CH.A.MP Clark. 

Through the medium of a highly 
successful career. Champ Clark, who 
has a national reputation as stump 
speaker and forensic orator, fur- 
nishes yet another illustration of the 
possibilities that lie before the young 
American who determines to "get 
there." Mr. Clark was born in An- 
derson county, Kentucky, March 7. 
1850. First educated in the local 
schools, he later studied at the Ken- 
tucky university, Bethany college and 
the Cincinnati law school. In order 
to support himself while acquiring 
his education, he worked as a farm 
hand, a clerk in a country store, an 
editor of a country newspaper, and 
finally as a lawyer. Not long after 
he had begun to practice law for a 
livelihood he commenced to take an 
active interest in political affairs and 
was at length elected city attorney 
of Louisiana, ]\Io., and later for 
Bowling Green, Mo. He has served 
as prosecuting attorney of Pike coun- 
ty, and since 1893, has been a member 
of congress from the Ninth Missouri 
district. Mr. Clark's eloquence, apart 
from his other notable qualities, 
makes him a prominent figure in 
congressional affairs. 

William Bourke Cockran. 

W. B. Cockran, the well-known 
lawyer and politician, who is also one 



548 



The Romance of Reality. 

persistent industrj- and sin- 



of the most popular orators before 
the public, was born in Ireland, Feb- 
ruary 28, 1854. He was educated in 
that country, and later in France. J^"^ Warwick Daniels, 



of hi,= 
cerity. 



When he landed in New York in 
1871, he knew no one in America and 
had exactly one hundred dollars in 
his wallet. But he was well edu- 
cated, of marked ability, and ambi- 
tious to the highest degree. Failing 
to secure something better, he be- 
came clerk in A. T. Stewart's store. 
A month later, however, he obtained 
a position as teacher in a public 
school on Rutgers street, where he 
taught French, Latin and history. 
Still later he accepted an appointment 
as principal in a public school in 
Westchester. But at this period Mr. 
Cockran had mapped out his future. 
He had determined to become a law- 
yer, and when on Saturdays his time 
was his own, he studied law in the 
office of the late Chauncey Schaffer. 
Saving some money, he resigned as 
school principal, and for nearly a year 
did nothing but read. In 1890 he was 
admitted to the bar of New York. 
His rise thenceforward was rapid. 
Very soon he became known as a 
man of great ability as an advocate 
and of supreme eloquence as a speak- 
er. It was not long before he had a 
lucrative practice, and took a fore- 
most place among the best lawyers of 
the metropolis. In the meantime his 
repute as an orator had attracted the 
attention of democratic leaders, and 
hence it was that Mr. Cockran was in 
demand at national democratic con- 
ventions and "on the stump." He 
was elected member of congress in 
1891, serving in that capacity until 
1895. In 1896. however, he refused 
to accept the 16 to i theory of the 
Democratic party and did his utmost 
to elect McKinley. Some will call 
Mr. Cockran a fortunate man, but as 
a_ matter of fact his fortune, profes- 
sional and financial, is the outcome 



John Warwick Daniels was born 
at Lynchburg, Virginia, September 5, 
1842. He was educated in the public 
schools of the town, at Lynchburg 
college, and also at Dr. Gessner Har- 
rison's university school. During the 
Civil war he was an adjutant-general 
in the Confederate army, serving on 
the staff of General Early. At the 
close of the conflict he took up the 
study of law at the University of 
Virginia and graduated in 1866. He 
has practiced ever since at Memphis, 
Va. He was elected to the state sen- 
ate in 1875 and was a member of the 
Virginia House of Delegates from 
1869 to 1872. In 1881 he was demo- 
cratic candidate for governor of Vir- 
ginia, but was defeated. As member 
of congress in 1885 to 1887, and since 
1887 as United States senator he has 
been much in the eye of the public. 
He is one of the most eloquent of 
forensic orators in America, as well 
as being the author of several well- 
known legal works. 

C.\RL SCHURZ. 

The riper years of Carl Schurz are 
so generally identified with the peace- 
ful and progressive things that are 
the fruits of the rostrum of the ora- 
tor and the sanctum of the editor 
that it seems hard to associate hira 
with the stormy and romantic inci- 
dents that crowded his youth. Born 
in Liblar, Rhenish Prussia, on 
March 2, 1829, he was educated at 
the Cologne gymnasium, and at the 
age of seventeen entered the Univer- 
sity of Bonn. When, in 1848. the 
revolutionary spirit became actively 
in evidence, he, together with Gott- 
fried Kinkel, a professor of the uni- 
versity, started a liberal newspaper. 
As the consequence, the young men 



549 



Encyclopedic Biographies, or 



were forced to fiee from Bonn. Later, 
Schurz received a commission as ad- 
jutant in the revolutionary army, and 
upon the fall of Badstadt was com- 
pelled to fly to Switzerland. His 
friend Kinkel was captured and sen- 
tenced to twenty years' imprison- 
ment. Schurz, however, did not de- 
sert his friend, but returning to Ger- 
many, by the exercise of marvelous 
courage and ingenuity, liberated Kin- 
kel, and went with him to Scotland. 
Subsequently, and in Paris, Mr. 
Schurz entered the journalistic pro- 
fession. In 1855 he, accompanied by 
his young wife, whom l.e had mar- 
ried while under the ban of the Ger- 
man authorities, came to America 
and settled in Philadelphia. After- 
ward he went to Madison, Wisconsin, 
where he became identified with local 
political affairs. He soon became a 
prominent figure in state politics. In 
the interval he had been admitted to 
the bar and now opened an office in 
Milwaukee. In i860 he was a mem- 
ber of the national republican con- 



vention, and when Lincohi became 
president he was made minister to 
Spain. During the Civil war he served 
with distinction under General Franz 
Sigel, who had been his old com- 
mander in Germany. In 1866 he was 
made Washington correspondent of 
the New York Tribune. Later he es- 
tablished the Detroit Post. He dis- 
posed of his interest in it, and in 
1867 removed to St. Louis, where he 
became editor of the Westliche Post. 
In January, 1869, Mr. Schurz was 
made United States senator for Mis- 
souri. He has taken an active and 
even strenuous part in presidential 
camoaigns for many years. In 1884, 
1888 and 1892 he supported Mr. 
Cleveland. When he visited Europe, 
in 1888^ he was cordially received by 
Prince Bismarck and other German 
leaders. He is an author, having pub- 
lished several books, including a life 
of Henry Clay and an essay on Abra- 
ham Lincoln. His screeds are often 
seen in periodical literature. 



MUSICIANS. 



Walter Johannes Damrosch. 

It is questionable if there is a bet- 
ter method of giving intellectual 
pleasure to a large number of people 
than by teaching them concerted 
singing. More than that, music is 
admittedly one of the most powerful 
factors in the bringing into being 
those finer qualities which are identi- 
fied with the higher civilizations. It 
follows, then, that the man who de- 
votes his life to cultivating a love of 
music among the masses is a public 
benefactor. Such an individual is 
Walter J. Damrosch, who is both 
well known and popular in this coun- 
try in connection with his work on 
the lines alluded to. Mr. Damrosch 
was born at Breslau, Prussia, Janu- 



ary 30, 1862. His father was Dr. 
Leopold Damrosch, his reputation as 
a conductor being of an international 
nature, led to his coming to this coun- 
try in 1871 to become director of the 
Oratorio society and Symphony so- 
ciety of New York. In the mean- 
time Walter had received a thorough 
musical training under his father, 
and, when the latter died, in 1885, 
he succeeded to the directorship of 
the organizations named. Since that 
period his continuous and conscien- 
tious, work for the popularizing of 
vocal music has borne fruit not only 
in New York, but in many other 
cities of the United States. Mr. 
Damrosch was also the director of 
German opera at the Metropolitan 



550 



The Romance of Reality. 

Opera House and added to his repu- Maurice Grau. 



tation in connection therewith. Mr. 
Walter J. Damrosch is married to 
IMargaret, daughter of the late James 
G. Blaine. 

Henry Lewis Reginald De Koven. 
When individuality is allied to tal- 
ent the world stands ready to recog- 
nize, applaud and recompense. But 
the welding process is not to be ac- 
complished without faithful and con- 
stant effort. The results approximate 
genius so closely that the division 
between it and mere talent is more 
theoretical than absolute. All this 
applies to Henry L. R. De Koven, the 
composer, who is one of the younger, 
and, at the same time, one of the 
most successful of American musi- 
cians. Comic operas there are and 
comic operas there will be, but in 
most instances the end of their vogue 
marks also the end of their exist- 
ence. In the case of Robin Hood, 
The Highwayman, and other of Mr. 
De Koven's works, it is otherwise. 
Those named and others bid fair to 
remain popular beyond the limits of 
this generation. The composer was 
born at Littleton, Connecticut, April 
5, 1861, his father being a clergyman. 
At first educated in public schools, 
he later went abroad, and was gradu- 
ated from Oxford, England, in 1880. 
Like other successful composers, he 
gave indications of his love of music 
at an early age, and, during his col- 
lege course, fostered his special gifts 
by constant study. After graduating, 
he studied still further under mas- 
ters at Stuttgart, Florence. Paris and 
Vienna. On returning to this coun- 
try he acted as musical critic on vari- 
ous publications coincidently with his 
work as a composer. Apart from 
his many operas he has written a 
number of songs. In 1884 he mar- 
ried Anna Farwell. 



Maurice Grau, who for many years 
was prominently identified with the 
exploiting of grand opera in this 
country, was born in Brussels, Aus- 
tria, in 1849, and came to New York 
with his parents at the age of fifteen. 
He graduated from the Free Acad- 
emy, New York, in 1867, attended the 
Columbia law school and later was 
for two years an employee of a law 
firm. Mr. Grau, however, was gifted 
with foresight. He saw that the citi- 
zens of this country, on recovering 
from the stress and strain of the Civil 
war, would not only be possessed of 
money with which to gratify their 
artistic instincts, but that these saroe 
instincts would come into active be- 
ing. In other words, in his own 
way, Mr. Grau had faith in the re- 
cuperative powers of the United 
States. In 1872, therefore, he became 
manager for Aimee, the opera boufTe 
prima donna, and was also the man- 
ager of Rubenstein, pianist; Clara 
Louise Kellogg company, Salvini 
and other foreign musical and dra- 
matic stars. Finally he became a 
member of the firm of Abbey, Schoef- 
fel & Grau. Sarah Bernhardt, Patti, 
Henry Irving. Coquelin, Jane Had- 
ing. Maunet-Sully and Mile. Rejane 
were exploited by the firm. Until 
1902 he was managing director of the 
Maurice Grau opera company and 
lessee of the Metropolitan opera 
house, New York, in which capacity 
he annually produced for some years 
standard grand operas, the casts of 
which included the most famous sing- 
ers of the present generation. He 
furthermore has acted as managing 
director of the Royal opera house, 
Covent Garden. On 1903 Mr. Grau 
severed his connection with the Met- 
ropolitan opera house, much to the 
regret of those to whose musical 
taste he had so successfully catered. 



SS"^ 



Encyclopedic Biographies, or 



Victor Herbert. 

The secret of success, as far as 
those who cater to public amusement 
is concerned, is the placing of one's 
fingers upon the pulse of the public 
and shape one's methods and man- 
ners in accordance with the knowl- 
edge so obtained. Victor Herbert, 
the composer, has so shaped his ca- 
reer, and, while his work is more or 
less identified with the lighter forms 
of comic opera, he nevertheless has 
exhibited unmistakable musical ge- 
nius. Mr. Herbert was born in Dub- 
lin, Ireland, February i, 1859, and is 
the grandson of Samuel Lever, the 
author of Handy Andy, and other 
Irish novels. He began to study mu- 
sic in Germany when but seven 
years of age, and took lessons from 
a number of masters. While yet a 
boy, he was appointed the principal 
'celloist of the court orchestra in 
Stuttgart. After more study and a 
prolonged tour in Europe, he came to 
this country as 'cello soloist of the 
Metropolitan opera house orchestra 
in New York. During his career of 
almost uninterrupted professional 
successes, he has been connected with 
the Thomas, Seidl and other orches- 
tras in the capacities of 'celloist and 
director. He has also been bandmas- 
ter of the Twenty-second Regiment 
of the national guard of the state of 
New York, and, in 1898, was made 
conductor of the Pittsburg (Pennsyl- 
vania) orchestra. Among the many 
comic operas which he has w^ritten 
are The Wizard of the Nile. The 
Viceroy and The Idol's Eye. He is 
also the author of a number of or- 
chestral compositions. In 1886 he 
married Theresa Foerester, a prima 
donna. 

Leonora Jackson. 

Of the many American girls who 
have made riches and reputations as 
violinists, none is better known to 



the musical world of this country and 
abroad than Leonora Jackson. Still 
a girl as far as years go, she has 
acquired a reputation as a virtuoso 
that usually comes to one in the sere 
and yellow times of life. She was 
born in Boston, February 20, 1879. 
After an education received in Chi- 
cago public schools, during which 
time she studied her favorite instru- 
ment, she went abroad and became 
a pupil in the Royal school of music, 
Berlin. While still a child, she made 
her debut in Europe and scored an 
instantaneous success. She has ap- 
peared in concerts with Paderewski, 
Patti and other famous singers and 
musicians and has added to her repu- 
tation by scores of performances be- 
fore musical societies in America and 
on the continent. Audiences of the 
Boston symphony orchestra concerts 
know her well. During the season 
of 1900 and 1901 she gave one hun- 
dred and sixty concerts in the United 
States, securing for herself in this 
connection a national reputation. 
Queen Victoria decorated her as a 
recognition of her talents. Miss 
Jackson has also appeared before the 
German empress and many other no- 
tables of Europe. 

Franz Kneisel. 

Boston musical circles have a sin- 
cere affection for Franz Kneisel, not 
only on account of his musical gifts 
but in connection with the work that 
he has done for the Boston symphony 
orchestra. Apart from that, however, 
some of his admirers aver that as a 
violin soloist he has no equal in this 
country and but few rivals abroad. 
Be that as it may, it is certain that 
his gifts are of a remarkable nature, 
and, like all successful men, he has 
cultivated them, constantly and con- 
scientiously. Franz Kneisel was born 
in Roumania, in 1865, of German pa- 
rents. From a child he studied mu- 



ss-^ 



The Romance otRrality. 



sic and violin instruction under Grun 
and Hellmsburger and early gave in- 
dications of the successes that await- 
ed him in the future. For some years 
he was concert master of the Hoff- 
burg theatre orchestra of Vienna, and 
later of Bilse's orchestra in Berlin. 
While filling these positions he 
acquired the reputation which led to 
his being invited to America. On 
reaching this country he at once be- 
came concert master of the Boston 
organization and director of the 
Kneisel quartet. He maintains his 
reputation as a violoncellist, how 
ever, in spite of the demands made 
upon his time by his other duties. 

Maud Powell. 

The popularity of Maud Powell, 
the violinist, amongst musically in- 
clined people is not altogether due to 
a recognition of her genius. Those 
who know her life story know, too, 
that the place which she now occu- 
pies in the eye of the public has been 
obtained at the expense of a tremen- 
dous amount of work, in the face of 
many obstacles. Besides that, she is 
a typical American girl, which means 
that she is the possessor of the pluck 
independence and perseverance which 
are supposed to be characteristic of 
the citizens of the United States. 
Miss Powell was born in Peru, Illi- 
nois, August 22, 1868. She studied 
in the common schools at Aurora, 
Illinois, and, after some preliminary' 
instruction on the violin in this coun- 
try', took an advanced course of study 
in Leipzig. Paris and Berlin. As a 
pupil of the famous Joachim she 
gave promises of a brilliant future. 
Miss Powell is best known to the 
American public throueh the medium 
of her solos given in connection with 
orchestral concerts of Thomas. Seidl. 
Gericke, Nikisch. Damrosch and oth- 
ers. In 1892 she toured Australia and 
Germany with the New York Arion 



society, and, in 1896, on the strength 
of the popularity which she had es- 
tablished in her preceding tour, made 
another and most successful visit to 
Europe. She has contributed liberal- 
ly on musical topics to a number of 
periodicals. Yet. as far as the Amer- 
ican public is concerned, the fame of 
Maud Powell is permanently identi- 
fied with her violin, rather than with 
her pen. 

Theodore Thomas. 

Like many of the well-known mu- 
sicians of to-day, Theodore Thomas 
not only inherited his talents from 
his father, but was a pupil of the lat- 
ter. Mr. Thomas shares with Dam- 
rosch and some other conductors the 
credit of making music, not only 
familiar to, but popular with, the 
masses in this country. He was born 
at Esens, Hanover, Germany, Octo- 
ber II, 1835, and at the age of ten 
made his first appearance in public 
as a violinist. Shortly after that he 
came to the United States, and for 
a number of years gave perform- 
ances in New York. After a success- 
ful tour in the south, which extended 
over two years, he returned to New 
York and appeared in concerts and 
opera, first as violinist and later as 
orchestra conductor. In connection 
with other musicians he organized an 
annual series of chamber concerts. 
In 1867 he founded the Thomas or- 
chestra and maintained it until 1888. 
He also acted as conductor for the 
Brooklyn and New York Philhar- 
monic societies. In 1891 he moved 
to Chicago, and since then has been 
conductor of the Chicago orchestra. 
He is director of the Cincinnati col- 
lege of music, was musical director 
of the Chicago exposition and ha« 
held other prominent positions in the 
musical world. He has been married 
twice, his second wife being Rose 
Fay, of Chicago, 



553 



Encyclopedic Biographies, 



SINGERS. 



David Scull Bispham. 

David Scull Bispham is another of 
those wise ones who recognized the 
call of his career and followed it. 
Originally intended for a business 
life, he found that his vocation was 
on the operatic stage, and in spite of 
the apparently insurmountable obsta- 
cles that intervened, he at length 
reached the goal of his desires. Mr. 
Bispham was born in Philadelphia 
January 5, 1857, and graduated in 
1876 from Haverford college, a 
Quaker institution near Philadelphia. 
When not very much more than a 
baby he gave evidence of his musical 
taste, and when at college his connec- 
tion with the glee club developed and 
fostered his gifts. Finally, after some 
years of experience as an amateur, 
he became a soloist in Philadelphia 7^, _ „ t 
churches and in 1884 went to i\^iyZ-ELiEDELvssAj^. 
to study and then appeared in con- 
cert in London. In 1802 he was 
intrusted with the role of "Tris- 
tan" at the Covent Garden 
Opera House, London, taking the 
audience of the British metropolis by 
storm. Since that time he has sung 
in all the great cities of the conti- 
nent and of the United States, ad- 
ding to his laurels meantime both as 
singer and actor. He is almost un- 
excelled as an oratorio vocalist, and 
is an exponent of classical ballads. 
Mr. Bispham was married in 1895 to 
Caroline, daughter of the late General 
Charles S. Russell. He is now the 
principal baritone of the Covent Gar- 
den Opera, London. 



prima donna, who has sung, so it is 
said, in every civilized or semi-civil- 
ized country in the world and in 
each and every instance has vindi- 
cated her professional reputation. 
She was born in France in 1866 and 
was educated at a convent. After 
some years of study under continen- 
tal masters, she made her debut in 
grand opera in 1882 at the Theater 
De la Monnaie, Brussels,, where she 
appeared in Massenet's Herodiade. 
Since then she has been intrusted 
with a number of responsible operatic 
roles and is well known in the 
United States. No small portion of 
her current reputation rests upon the 
success that she achieved in connec- 
tion with her appearance in Mas- 
cagni's "Cavalleria Rusticana." 



Among the younger prima donnas 
who have attracted nearly as much 
attention abroad as they have in this 
country is Zelie de Lussan. She is 
an American girl by birth and re- 
ceived her musical training in New 
York and Boston. Subsequently she 
studied abroad, and after some con- 
cert work in France and Germany, 
returned to the United States, where 
she appeared in English and grand 
opera. Her successes from the in- 
ception of her artistic career were 
almost continuous. Besides her vocal 
gifts she owns histrionic talents of a 
high order. Subsequent to her last 
New York appearance, she was again 
called to Europe, and in that connec- 
tion has given renewed assurance of 
her abilities. She is one of the sev- 
eral American girls who have suc- 
ceeded in a profession which bristles 
with difficulties. 



Emma Calve. 

This generation seems to be partic- 
ularly fortunate in regard to the 
number and the quality of its sing- 
ers. Not the least prominent among Edouard de Reszke 
these is Emma Calve, the well-known Edouard de Reszk 

554 



e was born at 



The Romance of Reality. 



Vasevie, Poland, in 1853. He is the 
brother of Jean de Reszke, and with 
him shares vocal gifts of a high or- 
der and a permanent popularity 
among musically inclined people. He 
studied music and singing under Ciaf- 
fei and Celetti, making his debut as 
an operatic singer in Paris in 1876 
as the king in "Aida." Since then he 
has been before the public more or 
less constantly, and his reputation 
has not waned by reason of his many 
j-ears of professional life. He is a 
favorite in grand opera roles in Eu- 
rope and has appeared in every city 
of importance in the United States. 
He is the owner of a basso of re- 
markable purity and timbre. 

Jean de Reszke. 

A triple alliance of magnificent vo- 
cal gifts, a commanding personality 
and a robust physique are responsible 
for the long and brilliant career of 
the operatic singer, Jean de Reszke. 
He was bom in Vasevie, Poland. 
January 14, 1850, and studied under 
the masters, Ciafifei, Cotogni and 
Sbriglia. His debut as baritone sin- 
ger was made in Favorita, Venice, 
January, 1874. and his debut as tenor 
singer in Aladrid, 1879. Mr. de 
Reszke has appeared in leading roles 
in grand opera both in the United 
States and Europe, one of his most 
popular characters being Tristan, in 
Tristan and Isolde. He was married 
to the Countess Marie de Goulaine, 
and now makes his home in New 
York city. 

Emm.<\ Eames. 

It is not often that one compasses 
one's ambition to the full. More fre- 
quently it will be found that those 
whom the world calls successful are 
successful in part only, and that 
much is left unfilled. It is open to 
question, however, whether the man 
who has fully realized his hope is 



more happy than he to whom some- 
what remains for which to crave and 
struggle. The answer to the question 
involved could hardly be given by 
Emma Eames, prima donna, for hu- 
manly speaking, she seems to have 
achieved the ambitions and the pur- 
poses of her life. The singer was 
born in Shanghai, China, August 13, 
1867, of American parentage. Her 
childhood was spent in Boston, her 
musical education being at first under 
the direction of her mother and later 
under Miss Munyard, a well-known 
teacher of vocalism. While singing 
in a church choir in Boston, she at- 
tracted the attention of Prof. Gericke, 
then leader of the Boston symphony 
orchestra, and Prof. Paine, of Har- 
vard, both of whom became interested 
in her. It was under their direction 
that the technical foundation of her 
future fame was laid. By their ad- 
vice and with their assistance, she 
took lessons from Mme. Marchesi, of 
Paris, for two years and later, after 
instruction in operatic roles by Prof. 
Gevart, chief of the Brussels conser- 
vatory of music, she made her debut 
in Paris in Gounod's Romeo and 
Juliet. A pronounced and spontane- 
ous success was hers, and the news 
that a comparatively unknown Amer- 
ican girl had become famous in a 
night excited the interest of musi- 
cally inclined people all over the 
world. Gounod himself declared that 
she was his ideal Juliet. During hei 
engagement in Paris, Miss Eames 
was the recipient of many social and 
official attentions, the president of 
the French republic honoring her 
with a decoration. In 1891 and the 
year following, she appeared in grand 
opera at the Covent Garden opera 
house, London, where she also scored. 
In 1893 and 1894 she gave New York 
audiences a taste of her quality by 
appearing in opera at the Metropoli- 
tan opera house and won immediate 



SS5 



Encyclopedic Biographies, or 



popular favor. She is installed a 
permanent favorite in musical circles 
of this country. In 1891 she married 
Julian, son of W. W. Story, the sculp- 
tor. 

Lillian Nordica. 

Lillian Nordica, one of the most 
popular of American prima donnas, 
was born in Farmingdale, Maine, in 
1859, her family name being Norton. 
Her musical education began early 
and was of a very thorough sort. 
After a period spent in local public 
schools, she became a student in the 
New England conservatory, her 
teacher being John O'Neil. Later she 
studied under San Giovanni at Milan, 
Italy. After preliminary work in con- 
certs abroad, she made her operatic 
debut at Brescia, Italy, in La Travi- 
ata, and scored instantaneously and 
emphatically. In 1887 she made a suc- 
cessful appearance in London, and 
later visited Paris, St. Petersburg 
and other European capitals. In each 
and every instance she repeated her 
initial successes. She has been twice 
married, her first husband being a 
Mr. Gower, and her second Herr Zol- 
tan Done. The prima donna's rep- 
ertoire embraces the leading roles of 
forty operas, and includes nearly all 
the standard oratorios. She is best 
known to the public in connection 
with Wagnerian parts, and has ap- 
peared in grand opera in this country 
on several occasions. Mme. Nordica 
has a charming personality, and her 
professional successes have by no 
means estranged her from the friends 
of her childhood. 

Adelina Pattl 

Theoretically the uses of poverty 
are many, tending to the development 
of varied virtues. As a matter of 
fact, poverty is the mother of much 
meanness and many crimes. The 
struggle for mere existence among 



the poor is so keen that it absorbs 
their mental and physical vitality. So 
it is that he or she who passes from 
the twilight of penury into the sun- 
light of prosperity must be rarely 
gifted. Such an individual is Ade- 
lina Patti, whose fame as a great 
singer is not only yet undimmed, but 
bids fair to last as long as music 
itself. Patti was born in Madrid, 
Spain, February 19, 1843, her mother 
being a prima donna at the Grand 
theater. In 1844 the family came to 
this country, the father being ap- 
pointed one of the managers of the 
then Italian opera Tiouse on Cham- 
bers street, New York. Little Ade- 
lina received her preliminary musi- 
cal training from her half-brother, 
Ettore Barilli. Owing to the finan- 
cial stresses in which her parents 
then were, she, although only seven 
years of age, was allowed to make 
her debut in concert at Tripler's hall. 
New York, on which occasion her un- 
developed but phenomenal voice at- 
tracted general attention. In 1859 
she made her debut in grand opera 
at the Academy of Music, New York, 
when she appeared in Lucia di Lam- 
mermoor. Her audience gave her 
a most cordial welcome. But, as it 
turned out, her struggles were only 
beginning. As far as the mere culti- 
vation of her voice was concerned, 
her natural gifts were of such a na- 
ture that she had no difficulty in over- 
coming the technical obstacles of her 
art, but the spirit of jealousy and 
suspicion which success usually 
arouses in the breasts of the un- 
known, prevented her talents from 
being duly recognized, or, to put it in 
another way, she was so belittled by 
her rivals that she had to individu- 
ally satisfy every great city in Amer- 
ica that she had not been overrated. 
Patti was deeply wounded by these 
unlooked-for conditions, but never- 
theless she bravely faced the sneers 



5S<> 



The Romance of Reality. 



and unkind criticisms and overcame 
them, and for many years has occu- 
pied a place in the estimation of the 
public, which probably no other prima 
donna in the history of civilization 
has attained. Twice during her career 
she has been threatened with the to- 
tal loss of her voice, but happily the 
"nightingale in her throat" is as yet 
unsilenced. To the end of her days 
she will reap the reward of the self- 
denial and persistent attention to 
duty and art which she gave them 
during the years of her childhood. 
She has been as successful abroad 
as she has in this country. In grand 
opera she has assumed nearly all 
existing prominent roles. For some 
years past she made her home abroad. 
In 1881, Patti revisited the United 
States, when she received $5,000 per 
night, which is said to be the largest 
amount ever paid to a singer or actor 
for one performance. Married three 
times, her last husband was Baron 
Rolf Cedarstrom. She is the owner 
of a castle at Craig-y-Nos, Wales. 
During her last and most recent visit 
to this country, the American public 
gave her ample proof that she still 
occupies a warm place in its affec- 
tion. 

Marcella Stengel Sembrich. 

Marcella Stengel Sembrich is one 
of the several prima donnas to whom 



the American music-loving public has 
remained loyal for many years. As 
an artist she ranks with the foremost 
singers of to-day, while her domestic 
life is of an ideal nature. As a rule, 
the law of compensation takes great- 
ly where it gives freely, and so the 
woman of talent who devotes herself 
to the service of the public is apt to 
be the loser as far as home life is 
concerned. In Mme. Sembrich's case 
it is otherwise, however, and her so- 
cial popularity, too, is no less than 
is her vogue on the operatic stage. 
The songstress was born at Lem- 
berg, Galatia,. February 18, 1858. Her 
early musical education was obtained 
in the Conservatory of Lemberg, 
after which she studied at Vienna 
and Milan. Her marvelous vocal gifts 
assured the success of her debut as 
Elvira, in I Puritani, at the Royal 
theater, Athens. After a season spent 
on the continent in opera she, in 
1883, came to this countr>- under the 
management of Henry Abbey. Her 
reception here was of the warmest 
nature, and from that time on she 
has been a constant favorite with the 
American public. She has made a 
number of tours in the United States 
and has been uniformly successful in 
connection therewith. In 1877 she 
married Prof. Wilhelm Stengel, who 
had formerly been her teacher at 
Lemberg. 



ACTORS. 



William H. Crane. 

A tireless worker and devoted to 
his calling, William H. Crane is with- 
out doubt one of the foremost come- 
dians of the day. Mr. Crane was 
born in Leicester, Massachusetts, 
April 30, 1845. At the age of eighteen 
he made his professional debut at 
Utica, New York. His first perma- 
nent engagement was with the Har- 



riet Holman's opera company, with 
which organization he remained for 
seven years. His first part, with this 
company, was that of the Orator, in 
The Child of the Regiment; later 
he filled the roles of Beppo, in Fra 
Diavolo; Mephisto, in Faust; Hugh 
Challoncr. in Ours; Dr. Dalcomora, 
in The Elixir of Love. Leaving the 
Holmans, he joined the Alice Gates 



557 



Encyclopedic Biographies, or 



opera company, becoming its leading 
comedian. Later, after creating the 
part of Le Blanc, in Evangeline, he, in 
1874, became a member of the stock 
company playing at Hooley's theater, 
Chicago. His first appearance in New 
York city was at Niblo's theater, in 

1876, and it was in the same year that 
at the Park Theater, he won distinct 
recognition as a comedian of excep- 
tional talent by his impersonation of 
Dick Swiveler to The ]\Iarchioness. 
During this time an acquaintance 
with Stuart Robson resulted in the 
two actors collaborating in Our 
Boarding House, which was given 
its initial presentation at the Park 
theater, New York city, October 11, 

1877. This engagement being ended, 
they formed a partnership that lasted 
for twelve years. Since 1899 he has 
appeared in star roles in The Sena- 
tor, On Probation, For Money, 
Brother John, A Fool of Fortune. A 
Virginia Courtship, and other plays. 
IMr. Crane has accumulated a com- 
fortable fortune, and in the intervals 
of his professional labor enjoys a 
pleasant home life with his wife and 
children at Cohasset, Massachusetts. 

John Drew. 

John Drew is an excellent example 
of a man finding his vocation and 
filling it. While it is true that he in- 
herited his histrionic talent, his father, 
John Drew. Sr., having been a noted 
Irish comedian and his mother, Lou- 
ise Lane Drew, also having been a 
great favorite on the stage — yet he 
has achieved success because of his 
personal efforts looking to its devel- 
opment. The prime requisite for ad- 
vancement in any field is, first, find 
your talent, then bend every energy 
toward its development. The sub- 
ject of this sketch was born in Phila- 
delphia, Pennsylvania, November, 13, 
1853, and early showed a preference 
for the boards. He was educated at 



the Episcopal academy and by private 
tutors, making his first appearance 
behind the footlights at the Arch 
street theater, Philadelphia, as Plum- 
per, in As Cool as a Cucumber. Al- 
though only nineteen, his efforts met 
with almost immediate success, and 
at twenty-one he joined Mr. Daly's 
famous company soon quickly be- 
coming the most popular member of 
the organization. Since 1892 he has 
been starring in his own company. 
Although Mr. Drew excels in society 
plays, he has also made a brilliant 
record in classical drama, and espe- 
cially in Shakespearian roles. Pe- 
truchio, in Taming of the Shrew, is 
his favorite character, and it is the 
most difficult and exacting of any he 
assumes. He has brought out in year- 
ly succession The Butterflies, The 
Bauble Shop, Christopher, Jr.. Rose- 
mary, A Marriage of Convenience, 
One Summer Day, and The Liars. 
Commenting upon Mr. Drew, Will- 
iam Winter, the well-known critic, 
wrote "that he possesses drollery, 
the talent of apparent spontaneity, 
and the faculty of crisp emotion. He 
has surpassed all young actors of his 
day as a gay cavalier and the banter- 
ing farceur of the drawing-room 
drama of modern social life. He is 
thoroughly in earnest, and his atti- 
tude toward his art is that of intel- 
lectual purpose and authority." 

William Hooker Gillette. 

We sometimes speak and often 
hear of an instantaneous success, but 
in reality there is no such thing as 
success or failure being immediate. 
Every real achievement is the culmi- 
nation of weeks and months, and 
even years, of earnest and unremit- 
ting toil. The popular actor and well- 
known author, William Hooker Gil- 
lette, furnishes a case in point. The 
structure of his reputation bids fair 
to last indefinitely, but it rests on 



558 



The Romance of Reality. 



foundations of preparatory work of 
which the pubHc knows but little. 
He was born in Hartford, Connecti- 
cut, July 24, 1855, being the son of 
Francis G. (late United States sena- 
tor from Connecticut), and Elizabeth 
Daggett (Hooker) Gillette. Gradu- 
ating from the Hartford high school 
at the age of twenty, he afterward 
attended the New York university for 
two years. From a lad he had given J 
evidence of his love for the stage. 
While at the university he obtained 
a minor position in one of the the- 
aters. In 1876, becoming a student in 
the Boston university, he followed 
the same plan of studying by day and 
playing in small parts at night. In 
this way he made himself thoroughly 
acquainted with the "business" of the 
stage, as well as the first principles of 
acting. Mr. Gillette made his first 
palpable hit in the title role of A Pri- 
vate Secretary by playing a part 
which required a particular delicacy 
of treatment. 

'athaniel C. Goodwin. 

Even as a schoolboy the famous 
comedian, Nat. C. Goodwin, by his 
clever imitations of leading actors, 
displayed signs of his future great- 
ness. He was born in Boston, July 
25, 1857, and educated in the public 
schools of that city. His parents in- 
tended that he should follow a com- 
mercial career,, but he early decided 
for the stage as against a business 
life. His mirth-provoking powers 
were finally recognized by Stuart 
Robson, who engaged young Good- 
win at a salary of $5 a week to play 
the part of the Bootblack, in Law in 
New York. Mr. Goodwin's reputa- 
tion was quickly established, and the 
next season he contracted with Josh 
Hart to appear in tne Eagle theater 
in Nev,' York city, at a salarj' of $150 
a week. In 1876 he played Captain 
Dietrich in Evangeline, and three 



years later entered upon his career 
as a star, a practically unbroken line 
of successes having followed both 
here and abroad, for when, in 1890, 
he filled a long engagement in Lon- 
don, he was received with every man- 
ifestation of approval. Mr. Goodwin 
has been married three times, the last 
wife being Maxine Elliott. 

AMES KeTELTAS HaCKETT. 

James Keteltas Hackett, one of the 
youngest of the prominent actors of 
America, and certainly the youngest 
actor-manager of note in this coun- 
try, was born at Wolfe Island, On- 
tario, Canada, September 6, 1869. He 
is the son of the late James Henry 
Hackett, who in his time was also a 
notable figure of the American 
boards. After graduating from the 
College of the City of New York in 
1891, he studied in the New York 
law school, but his inclination for 
the stage, which manifested itself al- 
most as soon as he could talk, became 
more and more marked, and, aban- 
doning the legal career which it had 
been intended he should follow, he 
gave himself up to studying for the 
stage. In 1892 he made his debut in 
New York in the A. M. Palmer 
stock com.pany. From the very first 
he gave unmistakable indications of 
his subsequent success. In four years 
— being then twenty-six years of age 
— he was leading man of the company 
in question, and w-as a star in the 
dramatic firmament of New York. 
From that time on his progress in his 
chosen profession has been unceasing. 
For some years he was under the 
management of Mr. Daniel Frohman, 
during which period he made distinc- 
tive hits in The Prisoner of Zenda 
and its sequel, Rupert of Hentzau, 
and The Pride of jennico. Leaving 
Mr. Frohman's management, he 
branched out for himself. As already 
intimated, he is as successful as he is 



559 



Encyclopedic Biographies, or 



popular. He married Mary Manner- 
ing, a well-known actress, whom he 
met during his association with the 
Frohman forces. 

Sir Henry Brodribb Irving. 

Sir Henry Brodribb Irving, v\rho 
has created an era in theatrical art, 
did not attain his ambitions until he 
had experienced a full share of dis- 
appointments and privations. His 
name is now associated with all that 
makes for the splendor of the drama, 
spectacular and intellectual. But the 
time was with Sir Henry when the 
next meal was an unknown quantity, 
when his wardrobe was carried on 
his back, and when his future seemed 
to be without promise professionally 
or otherwise. But with him, as with 
other successful men, his belief in 
himself enabled him to combat stress 
of troubles and finally landed him at 
the goal of success. Apart from all 
else he has, through the medium of 
his masterly productions of Shake- 
speare's plays, done more to revive an 
intelligent interest in the "Immortal 
Bard" than has any other manager- 
actor of this generation. His keenest 
critics admit his genius, even while 
they comment on his methods. Like 
most men of his type l.e has a marked 
individuality, and for this reason he 
has been accused of mannerisms. On 
the other hand, his admirers claim 
that his individuality is responsible 
for no small portion of the charm 
and power of his work. The actor 
was born in Keinton, near Glaston- 
bury, England, February 6, 1838, his 
actual name being Brodribb. By per- 
mission of the English authorities in 
1887 he was authorized, however, to 
continue the use of the adopted 
name of Irving. Educated in private 
schools in London, he, in 1856, went 
on the stage in the provinces. His 
first appearance before a public was 
a failure, pure, simple and absolute. 



The London stage first knew him in 
1859; then he returned to the prov- 
inces, remaining therein until 1866, 
when he once more came to London, 
playing in several different theaters, 
but in minor roles. At about this 
period his talents began to assert 
themselves, and since 1871 Sir Henry 
Irving has been successfully before 
the public at the Lyceum Theater, 
London, of which he was lessee and 
manager from 1878 until 1899. He is 
well known to play-goers in this 
country by reason of his several tours 
here. In recognition of his work for 
the betterment of the stage he was 
knighted by Queen Victoria in 1895. 
Sir Henry Irving is also an author, 
his most notable work being The 
Drama. 

Joseph Jefferson. 

Many ancestors of Joseph Jefferson 
followed the profession of acting. 
Both his father and mother were 
players. He was born at Philadel- 
phia, February 20, 1829, was educated 
at home and first appeared on the 
stage as a child in the old-time favor- 
ite play of Pizarro. In 1843 his 
father died, and he joined a party of 
strolling players, who traveled 
through Texas and followed the 
United States army to Mexico. His 
first prominent role was that of Asa 
Trenchard, in Our American Cousin, 
which was first presented October 18, 
1858, and continued for one hundred 
and fifty consecutive nights at Laura 
Keene's theater in New York city. 
His other notable parts have been 
Newman Noggs, in Nicholas Nickel- 
by ; Caleb Plummer, in The Cricket 
on the Hearth ; Dr. Pangloss, in The 
Heir-at-Law, and Dr. Ollapod, in The 
Poor Gentleman. But the public 
chiefly identify him with the title 
role of Rip Van Winkle, which he 
has played in every city in the United 
States, and also in England and Aus- 



560 



The Romance of Reality. 



iralia. He enjoys the distinction of 
having presented the character more 
times than any other actor has ever 
played a single character in the his- 
tory of dramatics. Besides being one 
of the most popular actors of his 
times, Air. Jefferson is a painter of 
considerable ability and is an author 
of some note. His "autobiography" 
is his most important work, but he 
has also contributed manv articles to 
the magazines. He married, in 1848, 
Margaret Lockyer, and after her 
death took to wife Sarah Warren, in 
1867. 

Edward H. Sothern. 

How many failures in life are 
caused by misfit occupations ! The 
world would have perhaps never 
known of Edward H. Sothern if he 
had followed the wishes of his father 
in choosing a life career. This man, 
who has attained such prominence in 
the histrionic profession would proba- 
bly have been doomed to obscurity 
had he become a painter. He was 
born in New Orleans, Louisiana. De- 
cember 6, 1859, being the second son 
of Edward Askew Sothern, the fa- 
mous comedian. At the age of five 
he was taken to London, where he 
received his education. He studied 
drawing for some time, his father 



wishing him to become an artist, but 
he seems to have inherited a predilec- 
tion for the stage. It was during his 
two visits to the United States with 
his father in 1875 and 1879. that, in 
spite of his parents' objections, he 
decided to become an actor, which he 
did, making his debut as a cabman, 
in Sam, at the Park theater. New 
York city. Later he joined his fa- 
ther's company, but shortly after re- 
signed in order to become a member 
of John McCullough's company. In 
1883, after appearing for two years 
at the Criterion. Standard, Royalty 
and other London theaters, and trav- 
eling one year,, in company with his 
brother, Lytton Sothern. he returned 
10 this country, again entered the 
company of John McCullough, be- 
coming its leading comedian. Subse- 
quently Mr. Sothern played with 
Helen Daubray, in One of Our Girls ; 
he first took a leading role as Jack 
Hammerton, in The Highest Bidder. 
Since that time he has starred with 
his own company in Lord Chumley, 
The Maister of Woodbarrow, Pris- 
oner of Zenda, Under the Red Robe. 
etc. He married Virginia Harned, 
his leading woman. Mr. Sothern has 
had an adequate professional training 
and his creditable work proclaims 
him a master of his art. 



ACTRESSES. 



Maude Adams. 

Maude Adams is descended from a 
long line of theatrical people. She 
was born at Salt Lake City, Utah, 
November 11, 1872. Her mother was 
the leading woman of a stock com- 
pany in that city, and at a very early 
age Miss Adams appeared on the 
stage in child's parts. Her school 
days were scarcely over when she 
joined the E. H. Sothern Company. 
She afterward became a member of 



Charles Frohman's stock company, 
and still later was leading lady for 
John Drew. Her most pronounced 
success was as Babbie, in The Little 
Minister and another as the title role 
of I'Aiglon. She also received much 
publicity as the model for the silver 
statue which was exhibited at the 
World's Fair, Chicago. Miss Maude 
.Adams has established herself per- 
manently in the good-will of Amer- 
ican play-goers. 



561 



Encyclopedic Biographies, 



or 



Viola Allen. 

Viola Allen was born in the south, 
but went to Boston when three years 
of age. She was educated in that 
city and at the Bishop Strachan 
school, Toronto, Canada. Her debut 
was made at the Madison Square the- 
ater, New York, in Esmeralda, in 
1882. During the season of 1883 and 
1884 she was leading lady for John 
McCullough, and afterward played 
classical and Shakespearian roles. 
She was a member of the Empire 
theater stock company in 1892, but 
her principal success was in creating 
the character of Gloria Quayle, in 
The Christian, which had a long run 
in New York in 1898, succeeded by a 
tour through the principal cities of 
the country. Miss Allen's private 
charities are many, and she is identi- 
fied with those phases of church 
work which have to do with the bet- 
tering of the conditions of the poor. 

Ethel Barrymore. 

Ethel Barrymore. one of the young- 
est stars in the theatrical profession, 
was born in Philadelphia in 1880. 
She comes of a professional family, 
and when, while yet a child, gave to 
those who were responsible for her 
first appearance behind the footlights 
assurance of innate talent. Miss Bar- 
rymore was by no means unknown to 
Metropolitan play-goers prior to the 
time when, under Mr. Charles Froh- 
man's management, she made her 
stellar debut a few years since. The 
young actress is a finished comedi- 
enne and is a member of that modern 
school of comedy that cultivates re- 
pressed efifort. 

Mrs. Leslie Carter. 

David Belasco, playwright and 
manager, has been uniformly success- 
ful with his plays and his stars. A 
case in point is that of Mrs. Leslie 
Carter, who has been connected in a 



professional capacity with Mr, Belasco 
for some years. Stepping from social 
circles in Chicago to the stage, she 
was in the first instance a somewhat 
indifferent specimen of the crude 
amateur actress, but Mr. Belasco de- 
tected in her undeveloped talent, and 
the rest is professional history. Un- 
der his guidance as tutor and man- 
ager she holds a prominent place in 
the theatrical world. Her first suc- 
cess was made in the Heart of Mary- 
land and her last and most notable in 
Du Barry. 

Eleanora Duse. 

Eleanora Duse, the Italian trage- 
dienne, who is Signora Cecci in pri- 
vate life, was born, in 1861. in Vigo- 
vano, Italy. At an early age she gave 
indications of those histrionic talents 
which subsequently made her famous. 
For many years she was one of the 
most notable figures on the stage of 
her country. She made her Ameri- 
can debut in 1893 at the Fifth Avenue 
theater, New York. While there is 
no gainsaying the sincerity and finish 
of her art, yet at the same time there 
are not a few critics who take excep- 
tion to it on the score of the sombre 
plays and methods of the actress. 
Since her debut she has visited the 
United States on more than one oc- 
casion, and in each instance her fol- 
lowing in this country have accorded 
her the welcome which is due to her 
as an artiste and a woman. 

May Irwin. 

"Blessed are the laughmakers," is 
one of the later beatitudes, and on 
that score May Irwin will certainly 
receive her share of blessings. She 
was born at Whitby, Ontario, Can- 
ada, in 1862, and made her debut at 
the Adebhi theater, Buffalo, in Feb- 
ruary, 1876. Later, with her sister 
Flora, she became a member of Tony 
Pastor's company, and shortly aftcr- 



562 



The Romance of Reality. 



ward joined Auguslin Daly's com- 
pany. She ranks as one of the whole- 
some mirth-making actresses of the 
American stage. The plays in which 
she has starred include The Widow 
Jones, The Swell Miss Fitzgerald, 
Courted Into Court, Kate Kip,, Buyer, 
and other farcical comedies. In 1878 
she was married to Frederick W. 
Keller, of St. Louis, who died in 
1886. 

Virginia Harned. 

Virginia Harned was born at Bos- 
ton, and, at the age of si.xteen, made 
her debut as Lady Despar, in The 
Corsican Brothers. She first played 
in New York city in 1890 at the Four- 
teenth street theater in a play entitled 
"A Long Lane or Green Meadow." 
In this play she made so good an 
impression that she was engaged by 
Daniel Frohman as leading woman 
for E. A Sothern. In 1896 she was 
married to Mr. Sothern and has since 
appeared in leading parts in his com- 
pany. Probably her greatest success 
was in the creation of the title role 
of Trilby. 

Mrs. Lillie Langtry. 

Mrs. Lillie Langtry, if she has done 
nothing else, has proven that a wo- 
man can command admiration even 
when she is no longer in the first 
flush of her youth or in the full bloom 
of her womanhood. This statement 
is made in view of the public regard 
which she still enjoys as an actress, 
in spite of the fact that she first saw 
the light in 1852, in Jersey, Great 



Britain. Ilcr father was connected 
with the Established church of Eng- 
land. She married an officer in the 
English army and subsequently set- 
tled in London. Domestic differences 
ensuing, she went upon the stage. 
Her American debut, as an actress, 
was made in 1893 at the Fifth avenue 
theater, New York. Since then she 
has visited this country on two or 
three occasions. Mrs. Langtry is 
popularly known as the Jersey Lily. 
She was married for the second time 
in 1899. 

Julia !M.\rlowe. 

That tender and graceful exponent 
of some of Shakespeare's women, Ju- 
lia Marlowe, was born at Coldbeck. 
Cumberlandshire, England, August 
17, 1870. She came with her parents 
to this country when she was five 
years of age. After a period spent 
in Kansas, the family removed to Cin- 
cinnati, where she attended public 
school until she was twelve years of 
age. She then became a member of 
a juvenile opera company which pro- 
duced Pinafore, Chimes of Nor- 
mandy, etc. After several years of 
arduous work and study, she appearerl 
in New York, but was a failure. 
Not discouraged, however, she went 
to work to study again, and in the 
spring of 1897 attained that recogni- 
tion from a metropolitan audience for 
which she had striven so faithfully. 
Since that time she has advanced in 
her profession and has .secured a 
prominent place among the leading 
actresses of to-day. 



ORGANIZERS AND LECTURERS. 

Cynthia May Westover Alden. she was born at Afton,. Iowa, May 

Mrs. Cynthia May Westover Alden 31, 1862, being the daughter of Oliver 



is an example of the possibilities of 
journalism, as a vocation for women. 



S. and Lucilda (Lewis) Westover. 
After a period spent in local common 



563 



Encyclopedic Biographies, or 



schools, she graduated from the Col- 
orado state university and the Den- 
ver business college. Subsequently 
she taught geology, book-keeping and 
vocal and instrumental music. The 
owner of an excellent voice, she was 
for some years a soprano soloist in 
several church choirs in New York. 
In 1887 she was appointed United 
States inspector of customs at the 
port of New York, and during her 
term of service as such made many 
important seizures. She was also sec- 
retary in a municipal department of 
New York, and for a time was an 
employee of the New York state mu- 
seum of natural history, resigning 
therefrom to enrrage in journalism. 
After editing the woman's depart- 
ment of the New York Recorder, she 
took charge of a similar department 
on the New York Tribune. She is 
now on the editorial staff of the La- 
dies' Home Journal. Mrs. Alden is 
also the founder and president-gen- 
eral of the International Sunshine 
society. Her life has been as busy 
as useful, and she has made for her- 
self a large circle of friends who, 
though not knowing her personally, 
are nevertheless acquainted with her 
through the medium of the kindly 
and helpful journalism with which 
she is so generally identified. 

Clara Barton. 

That most noted and beloved of 
humanitarians, Clara Barton, is of 
Puritan ancestry, being born in Ox- 
ford, Massachusetts, in 1830. She 
was the daughter of Captain Stephen 
and Sally Stone Barton, and was 
educated at Clinton, New York. 
When still very young she founded 
a seminary for girls at Elizabeth- 
town, New Jersey. Later, she be- 
came principal of the first public 
school in Bordentown, New Jersey, 
resigned through sickness and was 
the first woman to hold a regular 



clerical position under the govern- 
ment, afterward being appointed to 
the patent office at Washington, Dis- 
trict of Columbia. During the Civil 
war she was instrumental in forming 
the famous sanitary commission 
which did such magnificent work for 
the sick and wounded at Bull Run, 
Antietam, Spottsylvania and many 
other battlefields of the war. When 
the Andersonville prisoners were re- 
leased they received timely aid 
through her relief work, and by her 
earnest efforts the fate of over thirty 
thousand missing men was ascertain- 
ed by means of the bureau of records 
which she organized at Washington. 
During the Franco-Prussian war she 
and her assistants nursed the sick 
and wounded in Strasburg and !\Ietz. 
In the days of the Commune she en- 
tered Paris, distributing food and 
clothing to the hungry and starving. 
On her return to the United States 
in 1873, she started the successful 
movement to obtain recognition of 
the projected Red Cross society from 
the government. In 1882 the society 
was organized and she became its 
first president. In that capacity she 
has superintended the work of giving 
help to sufferers from the Michigan 
forest fires, the earthquake at Char- 
leston, floods on the Ohio and Mis- 
sissippi, 1884 ; the Johnstown flood, 
the Galveston disaster. 1900, etc. 
Wherever there has been a cry from 
the sufferer, Clara Barton, often in 
the face of almost insurmountable 
difficulties and constant danger, has 
ever responded to the call of duty. 

Francis Edward Clark. 

Francis Edward Clark, the presi- 
dent of the United Societies of Chris- 
tian Endeavor comes of New Eng- 
land stock, although he was born in 
Aylmer. province of Quebec. Sep- 
tember 12. 1851. His parents died 
when he was a child, and his uncle, 



564 



The Romance of Reality. 



the Rev. E. W. Clark, adopted him 
and took him to Claremont, New 
Hampshire. Thus it was that he 
acquired a new name and country. 
Education and home influence in- 
cUned him to the ministry, and he 
early decided to become a clergyman. 
After an academic and college course 
— the latter at Dartmouth — he studied 
theology for three years at Andover, 
and was later appointed pastor of 
Williston church, Portland, Maine, a 
small mission from which he built a 
large Congregational church. One of 
his many ideas was the exaction of a 
pledge of faithful Christian endeavor 
from the members of his Bible class- 
es. The results were of so marked 
a nature that the well-known society 
of which he is president was a con- 
sequence thereof. Churches of many 
denominations endorsed the idea, and 
within a few years national conven- 
tions of the organization were held 
which made the world think that a 
tidal wave of religious enthusiasm 
was sweeping over it. An organ of 
the movement was founded, entitled 
"The Golden Rule," with Dr. Clark 
as editor-in-chief. The work con- 
tinued to grow, and finally he was 
compelled to resign from the pastor- 
ate in order to devote himself to the 
needs of the society. The movement 
has extended all over the world, and 
in connection with it he has organ- 
ized other societies, such as The 
Tenth Legions. The Macedonian Pha- 
lan.x, The Christian Association, and 
Quiet Hour. Dr. Clark was mar- 
ried in 1876 to Harriet E. Abbott. 
He is the author of several books 
dealing with his life work. 

Mary Lowe Dickinson. 

Mrs. Mary Lowe Dickinson, the 
well-known authoress, was born in 
Fitchburg, Massachusetts, in 1897. 
She received a preparatory education 
in the common schools, then was 



placed under the instruction of pri- 
vate tutors, and subsequently studied 
art and literature abroad. Returning 
to this country, she became head as- 
sistant in the Chapman school, Bos- 
ton, taught for some time in the 
Hartford female seminary and finally 
was made principal of the Van Nor- 
man institute, New York. Marrying 
John B. Dickinson, a New York 
banker, she on his death some years 
since became professor of belles let- 
tres, emeritus professor and lecturer 
at Denver university. She is now 
connected in an official capacity with 
a number of philanthropic and re- 
ligious institutions, is the editor of 
Lend a Hand Magazine, and for ten 
years has edited The Silver Cross. 
She has written poems and works of 
fiction which are illustrative of vari- 
ous lines of philanthropic work. 

Thomas Dixon, Jr. 

Thomas Dixon, Jr., lecturer, writer 
and clergyman, was born in Shelby, 
North Carolina, January 11, 1864, his 
father being the Rev. Thomas Dixon. 
He graduated from Wake Forest 
college. North Carolina, in 1883, from 
the Greensboro, North Carolina, law 
school in 1886, and from Johns Hop- 
kins university in 1899. Harriet Bus- 
sey became his wife on March 3, 
1886, in Montgomery, Alabama. He 
was a member of the North Carolina 
legislature from 1884 to 1886. Re- 
signing in order to enter the minis- 
try, he was ordained a Baptist clergy- 
man in 1887, taking a pastorate at 
Raleigh, North Carolina, and late in 
the same year accepted a call to Bos- 
ton. Two years later he came to New 
York, where he has become noted by 
reason of his pulpit treatment of top- 
ics of the day in a manner uniquely 
his own. He is the author of several 
works on religious and social prob- 
lems, one of which. The Failure of 
Protestantism in New York, which 



565 



Encyclopedic Biographies, 



or 



was published in 1897, has attracted 
much attention. Mr. Dixon is a 
forceful speaker^ a man of magnetic 
presence, and possesses the courage 
of his convictions to a high degree. 

Herbert Hungerford. 

Herbert Hungerford was born at 
Binghamton, New York, February 
22, 1874. He was brought up on a 
farm, obtained the groundwork of 
his education in district schools, and 
graduated from the academy at 
Windsor, New York, in 1895. The 
following year he entered Syracuse 
university, but was compelled to 
leave at the close^ of the freshman 
year on account of illness. Serving 
as a private in the First Regiment of 
New York volunteer infantry dur- 
ing the Spanish-American war, he, 
while the regiment was stationed at 
Honolulu, Hawaiian Islands, estab- 
lished, edited and published the News 
Muster, which was a unique con- 
tribution to the curiosities of jour- 
nalism, being the first illustrated 
newspaper published by a body of 
soldiers in the field. At the close of 
the war he returned to 3inghamton 
and there organized the initial 
branches of the Success league. Later 
he was called to New York to fur- 
ther and take charge of the develop- 
ment of the organization in question, 
which is a federation of literary, de- 
bating and self-culture societies. The 
league has developed rapidly under 
his direction, now having branches in 
every state and in nearly every city 
and town of importance in the United 
States. He was married, in 1898, to 
Grace M. Whipple, of Binghamton. 
New York. 

John Mitchell. 

The story of the early struggles of 
the labor leader, John IMitchell, is 
both pathetic and inspiring. A son 
of the common people, he has risen 



from being a poor door-boy in the 
coal mines of Illinois, to a position 
of great trust and general honor. Mr. 
Mitchell was born in Braidwood, 
Brill county, Illinois, February 4, 
1869, being the son of Robert and 
INIartha Mitchell. Compelled to leave 
school at the age of ten, his subse- 
quent education was obtained by 
night study. He afterward studied 
law, worked on a farm, became coal 
miner and was finally attracted to the 
labor movement, which at that time 
was directed by the Knights of La- 
bor. In 1888 he took an active part 
in trade union affairs as president of 
the local organization of the Knights. 
Knowing that knowledge is power, 
he read everything that came within 
his reach and joined debating socie- 
ties, athletic associations, independ- 
ent political reform clubs and vari- 
ous other organizations, in order to 
take advantage of the several oppor- 
tunities that they presented to him. 
When, in January, 1890, the order of 
United Mine Workers of America 
was organized, he was among the 
first to be enrolled, and in January, 
1898, was elected its vice-president. 
He has been re-elected every year 
since, is also second vice-president of 
the American Federation of Labor 
and a member of various committees 
at the National Civic Federation. 
During the five years of his leader- 
ship the union has grown from a 
membership of forty-three thousand 
to a membership of over three hun- 
dred thousand. He has brought about 
many reforms in the interests of 
labor. His chiefcst achievement is 
that of securing a settlement of the 
recent great coal mine strike through 
the arbitration commission appointed 
by President Roosevelt. He has 
demonstrated anew the force of the 
maxim that "It is to him only who 
has conquered himself it is given to 
conquer." 



566 



The Romance of Reality. 



Ernest Thompson-Seton. 

Historians of the Wild — of the 
denizens of fields and woods and 
rivers — there are and have been, but 
in the majority of instances their 
work has been confined to mere de- 
scriptions of the personalities of 
birds and beasts and fish from the 
standpoint of the museum, rather 
than from that of the interested, if 
unscientific,, observer. Ernest Thomp- 
son-Seton, however, naturalist and 
artist, has, through the medium of his 
books, managed to so wed popular in- 
terest and scientific data that the re- 
sult is fascinating in the extreme. He 
has shown, loo, that to a man of tal- 
ent there is always a new field to be 
discovered amid the old ones, which, 
apart from all else, is a lesson that 
no one can afford to ignore. Thomp- 
son-Seton was born in South Shields, 
England, August 14, i860. He is a 
descendant of the famous Setons of 
Scotland, Thompson being a noin dc 
plume. Coming to this country when 



a boy, he at first lived in the back- 
woods of Canada and also had ex- 
periences on the plains of the then 
far west. He was educated at the 
Toronto collegiate institute and also 
at the Royal academy, London, Eng- 
land. In 1896 he married Grace, 
daughter of Albert Gallatin, of San 
Francisco. His qualifications as a 
naturalist becoming known to the 
government of Manitoba, he was 
made oflkial naturalist therefor, sub- 
sequently publishing works on the 
birds and mammals of that territory. 
He studied art in Paris and was at 
one time one of the chief illustrators 
of the Century dictionary. His works 
on natural history topics are well 
known. Thompson-Seton is what 
may be called a psychological natural- 
ist, inasmuch as he analyzes the men- 
talities of his subjects. The results 
are seen in such books as The Biog- 
raphy of a Grizzly, The Trail of the 
Sand Hill Stag, Wild Animals I 
Have Known, etc. 



ARTISTS. 



Laurence Alma-Tadema. 

Laurence Alma-Tadema is a 
Dutch-British painter whose reputa- 
tion is founded upon his remarkable 
studies of the ancient life of the 
Greeks and Romans. He was born 
in West Friesland, Holland, in 1836, 
was educated in the Gymnasium of 
Leeuwarden, and while there inter- 
ested himself in archaeological re- 
searches, and coincidently was an ar- 



the Paris Salon, in 1864, he received 
a medal and was similarly honored 
at the exposition of 1867. In 1873 
he was created chevalier of the Order 
of the Legion of Honor of France, 
and some years later w^as elected 
royal academician. His first notable 
English success was Un Amateur Re- 
main and L^n Jongleur, which were 
accepted at the Royal academy in the 
British metropolis. 



dent student of art. At the end of _ _ _ _, 

his term at the gymnasium, in 1852, Leon Joseph Florentin Bonn.m. 
he studied under Leys at the Ant- 
werp academy of fine arts, and made 
a record for himself. In 1870 he 
went to London, where he has since 
resided, and where, too, he made his 
reputation as an artist, who works in 
a unique and fascinating field. At 

;67 



One of the most noted of French 
portrait painters is Leon Joseph Flor- 
entin Bonnat, who was born at Ba- 
yonne. France, in i8.l3- He drew and 
painted from his early youth, and, 
when still a boy, was a pupil of Fred- 
eric Madrazo at Madrid, and later 



Encyclopedic Biographies, or 

studied under Leon Cognet. In 1858 Jules Adolphe Breton. 



he went to Italy, where he remained 
for four years among the galleries 
and in the studios of that country. 
The first of his works to attract at- 
tention was Adam and Eve Finding 
the Body of Abel, a picture which 
was bought for the art gallery at 
Lille. Much praise was lavished 
upon his portrait of M. Thiers, and 
that of Don Carlos was equally ad- 
mired. Some of the best known of 
his works are Christ on the Cross, 
which was the outcome of a commis- 
sion for the Palais de Justice, Paris; 
Martyrdom of St. Denis, St. Vin- 
cent de Paul Freeing the Galley 
Slave, The Wrestling of Jacob, and 
Neapolitan Peasants Before the Far- 
nese Palace. 



GuiLLAUME Adolphe Bouguereau. 

Guillaume Adolphe Bouguereau, a 
French artist, and one who is re- 
garded as one of the chief exponents 
of the art of painting flesh, is well Carolus Duran 



The works of J. A. Breton, who is 
admittedly one of the foremost of 
living artists, are characterized by a 
dramatic quality which by no means 
detracts from their essential truth- 
fulness. Breton was born in Cerriere, 
Pas-de-Calais, France, May i, 1827. 
He studied in Paris under Drolling 
and M. F. Devigne. It was not long 
after the completion of his studies 
that he began to attract the attention 
of connoisseurs. In 1886 he was elect- 
ed a member of the Academic des 
Beaux Arts of France. Subsequently 
he was made academician of the 
Royal academy in London. Prior to 
these honors he had been decorated 
with the ribbon of the French Legion 
of Honor. Besides, being an indus- 
trious worker with brush and palette, 
Breton is an author, having produced 
a volume of poems and an autobiog- 
raphy. 



known in this country through the 
medium of those of his works which 
have been exhibited here. He was 
born at La Rochelle in 1825. His par- 
ents intended him for a business 
career and he entered a mercantile 
house in Bordeaux, but the artistic 
craving within him soon prompted 
him to devote himself to art, and so 
he became a pupil of Alaux. His 
work with that master was such as 
vindicated his choice of a profession. 
So it came about that later he en- 
tered the studio of Picot and subse- 
quently L'Ecole des Beaux Arts. In 
1850 he went to Rome, and four years 
later his fame was established by his 
superb painting of The Body of St. 
Cecilia Borne to the Catacombs. 0th- 



A portrait painter of international 
repute who is much sought as a tutor 
by American pupils is Carolus Du- 
ran. John S. Sargent was one of 
those who studied under him. Du- 
ran was born at Lille, France, in 
1837, and was a pupil of Souchon, of 
the Academy of Arts of that city. 
For some years he devoted himself to 
copying the old masters in the 
Louvre, his favorite model being 
Velasquez. The influence of that 
master is more or less obvious on his 
canvases. He went to Rome in 1861, 
studied there for some time and ex- 
hibited his first important work — The 
Evening Prayer — in the Paris Salon, 
in 1863. Since then he has grown 
steadily in public estimation. 



ers ot his well-known paintings are 

Vierge Consolatrice. Youth and Love. Jean Leon Gerome. 

Homer and His Guide, Nymphs and An artist whose startlingly original 

Satyrs, and also On the Way to the methods have secured for him a 

Bath. vogue of an international nature is 

568 



The Roiiiiince of Reality. 



Jean Leon Gerome. While there are 
those who uke exception to the de- 
partures from the ordinary which are 
characteristic of his canvases, yet the 
number of his admirers are far in 
excess of his adverse critics. Ge- 
rome was a pupil of Delaroche, whose 
studio he entered in 1841, when but 
seventeen years of age. For a num- 
ber of years he has been instructor at 
the Paris school of fine arts. One of 
his paintings, The Death of Caesar, is 
admittedly as impressive a w^ork as 
has been produced by any modern 
artist. Gerome is working on parallel 
lines to Breton in the way of indicat- 
ing the reputation and technique of 
modern schools of art. 

Franz Lenbach. 

An artist who has painted the por- 
traits of most of the crowned heads 
of Europe is Franz Lenbach. who 
was born at Schrobenhausen, Ba- 
varia, in 1836. Lenbach first studied 
at the Munich academy of arts as a 
pupil of Piloty's. He gave such evi- 
dences of talent that at the comple- 
tion of his course, he was sent to 
Rome at the expense of his tutors. 
There he progressed rapidly. After 
producing a number of works which 
attracted much attention, he, in i860, 
was appointed a professor at the 
Weimar art school, from which posi- 
tion he resigned two years later, in 
order to visit Italy and Spain. On 
returning to Munich he devoted him- 
self to portrait painting, imitating the 
methods of Rembrandt. As already 
stated, he has had a number of dis- 
tinguished patrons. 

Adolf Frederick Erdmann Menzel. 
A famous historical and general 
painter is .A.dolf Frederick Erdmann 
Menzel, who was born at Breslau, 



Prussia,, in 1815. Early in life his 
pen-and-ink drawings attracted much 
attention. After years of study in 
the art centres of the continent, he 
began to develop on characteristic 
lines, working in both oil and water 
colors. Many of his pictures repre- 
sent epochs in the life of Frederick 
the Great. He has also painted a 
number of classical subjects. Of his 
works in the National Gallery of Ber- 
lin the most notable are The Round 
Table of Frederick, 1750; Modern 
Cyclops and A Flute Concert at Sans 
Souci. He is a member of the Ber- 
lin. Vienna and Munich academies. 

John Singer S.a-Rgent. 

But few people will take exception 
to the statement that John Singer 
Sargent is the foremost portrait 
painter of this country. Furthermore 
his reputation abroad is hardly less 
than it is here. He was born of 
American parents at Florence, Italy, 
in 1856, and was a pupil of Carolus 
Duran. For a long time Mr. Sargent 
had a studio in Paris, and it was in 
that city that he laid the foundation 
of his reputation. In 1879 he re- 
ceived honorable mention at the Paris 
Salon, and a medal in 1881. Among 
his more famous works are Fishing 
for Oysters at Cancale, which was 
sold in New York, in 1876. to Samuel 
Colman; En Route pour la Peche: 
Neapolitan Children Bathing, and a 
portrait of Duran. The scheme of 
decoration for the specialty floor of 
the Boston public library will, when 
completed, represent the development 
of the Christian faith. It is unique 
in design and execution and striking- 
ly illustrative of Mr. Sargent's gen- 
ius. The artist's portrait of Presi- 
dent Roosevelt has added much to 
his reputation. 



569 



Encyclopedic Biographies, or 



ILLUSTRATORS. 



William de Leftwich Dodge. 

Among the American mural decor- 
ators who have achieved a reputation 
vi^hich is not confined to the land of 
their birth, is William de Leftwich 
Dodge. Some of the principal deco- 
rations of the Boston public library 
and the capitol of Washington are 
the outcome of his genius. He has 
also executed a number of private 
commissions, and in each and every 
instance has given evidence of fer- 
tile imagination and forceful execu- 
tion. It is perhaps too much to say 
that Mr. Dodge has inaugurated or 
suggested a new school of mural art, 
but it is certain that he has so modi- 
fied accepted methods that the results 
are practically without precedent as 
far as his special line of work is 
concerned. He was born in Liberty, 
Virginia, and, after a preliminary art 
education in this country, studied in 
Paris and Munich. He began his 
career proper as an illustrator, but it 
was not long before he realized that 
his future lay along the lines of deco- 
ration rather than in the pages of 
publications, and, as has been inti- 
mated, his successes have vindicated 
the wisdom of his decision. He has 
been awarded the third medal of the 
Concours d'Atelier. Paris ; the gold 
medal. Prize Fund exposition, 1886; 
three medals Cours Yvon, 1887 ; Prix 
d'Atelier. 1888, and medal of the Co- 
lumbian exposition, 1893. 

Charles Mente. 

Charles Mente, a popular illustra- 
tor, comes of a musical family, and 
so narrowly escaped being a musician 
instead of an artist. He was born in 
New York city, educated in the pub- 
lic schools and afterward learned 
wood-carving, making figureheads 
and ornamental work on furniture. 



This work was not to his taste, how- 
ever, so he entered the credit depart- 
ment of A. T. Stewart's store. New 
York city. This was even more dis- 
tasteful, and, resigning, he spent his 
evenings attending Cooper institute 
art classes, and later the art students' 
league. At that time all illustrations 
were drawn on wood. Mr. Mente's 
first drawing was for Harper & 
Brothers, and was successful, and for 
two years he worked for that firm. 
By the end of that period he had 
managed to save about $1,500, with 
which he went abroad to study in 
Munich at the Royal academy. There 
he received a medal, with honorable 
mention. Coming back to New York, 
he was engaged as a teacher of paint- 
ing at the Gotham art students' 
league, but gave up this position to 
devote himself to painting and illus- 
tration. He has received first prize at 
the exposition of the Chicago society 
of artists, a gold medal of the Art 
club of Philadelphia in 1895, and a 
diploma of excellence and silver 
medal at the Cotton States' interna- 
tional exposition, Atlanta, Georgia, in 
1895. Mr. Mente's reputation rests 
to a srreat extent on his pictures 
based on inspirational subjects. 

Thure de Thulstrup. 

^ The vigor of the work of Thure de 
Thulstrup is known to the reading 
public mainly through his illustra- 
tions in metropolitan magazines, but 
he has also painted a number of can- 
vases which show that he is as much 
at home with the brush as with the 
crayon or pencil. Thulstrup was 
bom in Stockholm, Sweden, and, af- 
ter graduating from the Royal Swed- 
ish military academy, was commis- 
sioned a lieutenant of artillery in the 
army of that country. But being of 



570 



The Romance of Reality. 



an adventurous spirit, he went to Al- 
giers, where lie enlisted in the First 
Zouave Regiment of the French 
army, saw some service in Northern 
Africa, and was afterward given a 
commission in the Foreign Legion. 
While a member of that body, he 
took part in the Franco-German war 
of iS/O-'/i. and also assisted in 
crushing the Commune in Paris. In 
1872 he set sail for Canada, where he 
obtained a position as civil engineer. 
From his boyhood he had delighted 
in sketching, and it was about this 
time that he determined to put his 
artistic gifts to practical use. His 
debut as an illustrator was with the 



New York Daily Graphic in the -o's. 
Subsequently he became connected 
with the Frank Leslie Magazine and 
with Harper & Brothers, and it was 
his work with the last named firm 
that established his reputation as an 
illustrator. He has painted a number 
of military pictures, including a series 
of twelve which have to do with stir- 
ring events of the Civil war in this 
country. Recently he has been en- 
gaged on canvases which illustrate 
cavalier life in Virginia in the middle 
of the eighteenth century. He has 
drawn the pictures of a number of 
books. 



CARTOONISTS. 



T. S. Allen. 

One of the artists whose purpose in 
life seems to be smile-breeding is '1". 
S. Allen. Well known in connection 
with his work in the columns of the 
New York American, his studies of 
and contingent jokes on "tough" 
youngsters under the caption of 
"Just Kids" are full of genuine hu- 
mor. Mr. Allen was born in 1869, 
in Lexington, Kentucky, and was edu- 
cated at Transylvania university, of 
that state. After some years spent in 
writing jokes, jingles, etc., for local 
and New York newspapers, he began 
to illustrate the same in a manner 
which quickly caught the attention 
of editors. To-day he has an estab- 
lished reputation as a graphic humor- 
ist, and his work finds a ready and 
remunerative market. 

Charles G. Bush. 

Charles G. Bush, the cartoonist of 
the New York World, is an example 
of success achieved comparatively 
late in life. His early work consisted 
for the most part of magazine illu'^- 



irations of a serious nature. After 
studying in Paris, under Bonnat, he, 
on his return to America, endeavored 
to follow a career of painting, but 
fate willed it otherwise. In 1895 Mr. 
Bush (Ircvv a cartoon in which David 
B. Hill was the principal figure. The 
New York Herald accepted the pic- 
ture, and the next morning Mr. Bush 
woke up to find himself famous as a 
cartoonist. From thence on his ca- 
reer has been one of more or less 
constant successes. 

Louis D.'^lrymple. 

Louis Dalrymple, the illustrator and 
cartoonist, was born at Cambridge. 
Illinois, January 19, 1861. .After re- 
ceiving a common school education, 
he entered the Pennsylvania academy 
of fine arts, graduated from it with 
credit and later studied at the art stu- 
dents' league of New York. Subse- 
quently he branched out for himself 
and began to submit drawings to the 
metropolitan comic publications and 
newspapers. Work of this kind se- 
rrres immediate recognition for an 



571 



Encyclopedic Biographies, or 



artist who can comply with the public 
demands of the moment. Mr. Dalrym- 
ple being not only clever but shrewd, 
it came about that within a very short 
time he was kept busy in executing 
commissions. His work is character- 
ized by a delicacy and acumen that 
prove that he thinks as well as he 
draws. 

Sydney B. Griffix. 

When the modern daily newspaper 
began to add to its news columns the 
so-called supplement, there was a 
coincident demand for artists who 
had the gift of humor. Sydney B. 
Griffin was one of such, and for some 
years past his supply of unique ideas 
seems to have been inexhaustible. He 
was born October 15, 1854, of Eng- 
lish and Scotch parents, attended 
public schools at Detroit, Michigan, 
and, in 1888, came to New York. 
When his first ideas were presented 
to Puck they were declined, but upon 
his taking them to Judge they were 
accepted forthwith. Air. Griffin took 
the trouble to inform the Puck peo- 
ple of his success ith their rivals, 
whereupon he was told that his work 
had been refused for t^e simple rea- 
son that it was so excellent that it 
was feared that it was not original. 
However, Puck mad>. the amende 
honorable by engaging him forthwith. 
Mr. Griffin's style is bold and slash- 
ing and his drawings are full of 
point and power. 

R, F. OUTCAULT. 

In the world of illustrators, the 
man who can originate an idea which 
excites the laughter and holds the 
attention of the public is indeed for- 
tunate. Such an individual is R. F. 
Outcault, the artistic father of the 
"Buster Brown" series which appear 
in the Sunday New York Herald. He 
is also the author of the "Yellow 
Kid" and "Hogan's Alley" pictures 



of the Sunday New York World, and 
of equally laughable creations in the 
New York American and other pub- 
lications. Born in Lancaster, Ohio, 
January 14, 1853, he was educated in 
that town. In 1888 he secured a posi- 
tion with Edison, and went to Paris 
in the inventor's employ. Returning 
to this country, he illustrated for 
some time with a fair degree of suc- 
cess, but it was not unt'i 1894 that he 
made his first distinctive hit as a 
comic artist. Mr. Outcault's personal 
description of his daily life is inter- 
cstip.g. H- says: "I have flowers, a 
garden, a dog and a cat, good music, 
good books, light stories, draw pic- 
tures, smoke a pipe, talk single tax 
theories, am a member of a couple of 
clul)s, lead the Simple Life." 

Carl E. Schultze. 

Humor, strenuous and wholesome, 
marks the work of Carl E. Schultze. 
His name is literally a household 
word in this country Jay reason of 
that quaint conceit, "Foxy Grandpa," 
of which he is the creator. He was 
born on Alay 25, 1866, Lexington, 
New York, and was educated in the 
public schools of that town and at 
Cassel, Germany. On his return to 
America he studied art under Walter 
Satterlee, of New York. For some 
time later he seems to have been un- 
decided as to how to apply his gifts, 
but an accidental sketch submitted to 
a Chicago paper, resulted in his be- 
ing forthwith engaged by that publi- 
cation. After remaining in Chicago 
on several newspapers for some 
years, he took a trip to California, do- 
ing further artistic work in San Fran- 
cisco. At length he determined to 
beard the metropolitan journalist 
lions in their dens. After a struggle, 
during which he did work on Judee 
and other New York publications, he 
became a member of the stafif of th.e 
Herald, where, thanks to an acci- 



572 



The Romance of Reality. 



dental inspiration, "Foxy Grandpa" 
came into existence. Later he be- 
came connected with the New York 
American. Mr. Schultze is a man of 
magnificent physique, and is held in 
high esteem by those who know him. 
He is the author of several works of 
comic drawings, and "Foxy Grandpa" 
has been dramatized. 

Eugene Zimmerman. 

Eugene Zimmerman's cartoons in- 
Judge are characterized by an in- 
sight into the political questions of 
the hour which is assisted rather 
than hindered by the sheer humor of 
his work. He was born at Basel. 
Switzerland. May 23. 1862. While yet 



a baby his parents came to the United 
States and settled at Paterson, New 
Jersey, where he received his educa- 
tion in the public schools. After 
leaving school, he was in turn a farm- 
er's bo}-. an errand boy in a store, a 
lish peddler, a baker and a sign 
painter, but sketched and drew con- 
tinuously. In 1882 he secured a posi- 
tion in the art rooms of Puck, and 
after doing considerable work for 
tliat publication left it in order to 
join judge. He has also illustrated 
books and articles by Bill Nye and 
James Whitcomb Riley. As a cari- 
caturist pure and proper he is almost 
without a rival in this country. 



HUMORISTS. 



George Ade. 

George Ade has an established 
reputation among those who are lov- 
ers of wholesome humor. His sketch- 
es, given in a picturesque dialect, are 
characterized by a freshness of ob- 
servation which is aided, rather than 
marred by the so-called slang in 
which they are written. Born at 
Kentland, Newton county, Indiana, 
February 9, 1866, he graduated from 
the University of Lafayette, Indiana, 
and subsequently became reporter and 
telegraph editor on the Lafayette 
Evening Call. In 1891 he went to 
Chicago, as a member of the staflf of 
the Daily News of that city, and 
afterward joined the forces of the 
Tribune. After establishing a repu- 
tation as a humorist, he turned play- 
wright and has scored several metro- 
politan successes. His Fables in 
Slang, issued in 1899, and More Fa- 
bles are the best known of his pen 
products. 

John Kendrick Bangs. 

John Kendrick Bangs occupies a 



distinctive position in the domain of 
humor. To use the vernacular, he is 
in a class by himself, and so the prod- 
ucts of his pen can hardly be re- 
ferred to or compared with that of 
any other of the writers of to-day. 
He was born in Yonkers, New York, 
May 27, 1862, his father being Francis 
N. Bangs, who for many years was 
the president of the Bar association 
of New York. Mr. Bangs graduated 
from Columbia university in 1883 and 
entered his father's office, but his 
humor would not down, and so it was 
that he shortly deserted the law in 
order to become the associate editor 
of Life. This was in 1884. Since 
that time he has held many respon- 
sible journalistic positions in New 
York, and in his present capacity as 
editor of Harper's Weekly has added 
much to the reputation which is de- 
servedly his. 

Samuel Langhorx Clemens. 

Samuel L. Clemens, who is better 
known as "Mark Twain." was born 
in Monroe county, Missouri. Novem- 



573 



Encyclopedic Biographies, 



later to form Iiis 
with the Harpers. 



ber 30, 1S35, and received his educa- 
tion at the village schools. On his 
fathers death, which took place when 
he was twelve years of age, he went Simeon Ford 
to work in order to contribute to the 
support of his mother and little 
brothers and sisters. As an appren- 
tice in the office of the Hannibal 
(Missouri) Courier, he laid the foun- 
dations of his reputation as author 
and journalist. Within the following 
twenty-hve years he was steamboat 
pilot, soldier, miner and editor. His 
first contributions under his famous 
nom-de-plume appeared in 1862, in 
the newspaper. The Virginia City 
Enterprise. Since 1S72 he has de- 
voted himself to literar>- work, lec- 
turing occasionally, and making fre- 
quent trips to Europe. It is said that 
nearly a million copies of his works 
have been sold. Space will not per- 
mit of a full list of them, but Rough- 
ing It, The Prince and the Pauper. A 
Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur's 
Court, and Pudden-Head \\'ilson are 



;urrent connection 



Simeon Ford, the after-dinner 
speaker and raconteur who, so it is 
said, can look more sad and at the 
same time talk more humorously 
than any other man before the Amer- 
ican public, was born in Lafayette. 
Indiana, in 1856. After an education 
received in the public schools of the 
town of his birth he studied law, but 
finding that there was but little mer- 
riment in Blackstone and briefs, aban- 
doned his first intentions, and after 
plunges into various businesses, drift- 
ed to Xew York, where, in 1883. he 
fell in love with and married Julia 
Shaw, the daughter of the proprietor 
of the Grand Union hotel. He forth- 
with became a partner with his 
father-in-law, and from thence on has 
been as successful as a hotel manager 
as he is famous as an after-dinner 
speaker. 



classics whose popularitv bids fair to 

last as long as American literature Eliz.xbeth Meriwether Gilmer 

itself. 



FixLEY Peter Duxxe. 

The author of the immortal "Mr. 
Dooley" is Finley Peter Dunne, who 
began life as a Chicago reporter, but 
is now under contract to Harper 
Brothers to write exclusively for their 
publications. He was born at Chi- 
cago. July 10. 1867, was educated in 
local public schools and began his 
reportorial life in 1885. After serv- 
ing on the staffs of several Chicago 
papers he became editor of the Jour- 
nal of that cit}- in 1897. It was about 
this time that 



Elizabeth Meriwether Gilmer, 
whose nom-de-plume is "Dorothy 
Dix." was born in Montgomery 
county, Tennessee, November 18. 
1870. She was married November 
21. 1888. to George O. Gilmer. In 
1896 she became the editor of the 
woman's department of the New Or- 
leans Picayune, and contributed to 
that paper a series of articles called 
Dorothy Dix Talks, which won her 
immediate recognition as a humorist. 
In 1900 she joined the New York 
American and Journal staff as a 
writer on special topics, which she 
treats in a breezy, snappy fashion. 



he conceived "Mr. 

Dooley." The reputation which that George \ . Hobakt. 
unique character brought him result- George V. Hobart, the humorist 
ed in his being engaged to contribute and librettist, who is well known to 
to a syndicate of New York. Chicago the newspaper public under his nom- 
and San Francisco newspapers, and de-plume of Dinkelspiel, was born at 



-)/- 



The Romance of Reality. 



Cape Breton, Nova Scotia. When a 
boy he studied telegraphy and ob- 
tained a position as an operator on 
one of the Cumberland (Marjiand^ 
newspapers. One day between the 
clicks of his instrument he wrote a 
humorous storj-, and handed it to the 
editor, who remarked, "'I -want more 
of that.^ That was the beginning of 
the famous Dinkelspiel sketches. Mr. 
W. R Hearst, of the New York 
American, saw Hobart's work, called 
him to New York He is the author 
of several comedies and books of 
musical productions. 

Melvik De Lakcy L.^>-dok. 

Melvin De Lancy Landoru ''Eli _Per- 
kins,'' was bom at Eaton, New York, 
September 7.. 1839. .\fter a course of 
preparation in the public schools he 



enterea - • ' 

in 1S61. 

an app' - 

States treasury, i/ai : 

position to enlist in 

to take part in the 



.ted 
ed 
•-ed 
--is 
-rnv 
He 



left tiie army, in 1864, with the rank 
of major. N'?7rt h"? became a cotton 
planter :r. ' '. /^na. 

Later he ■ -.-as 

secretary cga- 

tion at St. Pttcrii^urg. 1:; iijj he 
was married to Emily Louise Smith. 
He has written copiously for maga- 
zines and other publications. But it 
is his books. Wit, Humor ard Pa- 
thos, Franco- Prussian War, Wit and 
Humor of the Age, Kings of Plat- 
form and Pulpit, and Thiny Years of 
Wit, upon which his reputation as a 
humorist rests. 



JOURNALISTS AND WRITERS. 



■TZPHXK B0KS.^L 

A most indnstrious contributor to 
magazines and writer of short stories 
is Stephen Bonsai He was bom in 
Virginia in 1865. and educated in St 
Paul's school Concord. New Hamp- 
shire. -After finishirg his studies in 
this countrv he went to Gottingen 
and Heidelberg. Germany. Returning 
to this country-, he entered journal- 
ism. In this connection he is best 
known as represenurg the New York 
Herald during the Bulgarian-Serrian 
war. In the service of that news- 
paper, he also went to Macedonia- 
Morocco and Cuba. Leaving news- 
paper work, he next entered the 
United States diplomatic service and 
was secretary of legation and charge 
d'affaires in Pekin. Madrid, Tokio 
and Cores from 1890 to 1896. Be- 
sides his magazine work, he is the 
author of several books, including 
^NTorocco -A? It Is and The Real Con- 
ditkra of Cuba. 



RlCH-^^ED Hasdiso D.^VIS. 

Like many othe- -rtr?'s. R-tihard 
Harding Dav: "cry 

stock, his fathe- -is. 

editor of the _ .lie 

Ledger, and nis niouicr r-ii^utoca. 
Harding Dai-is, whose works of fic- 
tion ha-^ ■ — :-'- '^' ' --tain 
amount : ^ "id- 

uaring f- of 

Pe ' ? -11- c rep- 

uti newspaper dr- 

c]t- ; He is a ver- 

satile -r.ter ani j^refers fiction to 
fact. He first attained prominence 
thraneh the medium of his Van Bib- 
ber Sketcies. War correspondent as 
well 3S Tinvel^=t ^i= ine ^?s been filled 
■w:.- - ^' 'Davis has 

be-;' by his 

cr-- ;- con- 

sr- ■ 'ect 

t-. - rk. 

da- .: . . .:. :-:._ .. :...:-ga 
-\pni A, i«%>9- 



575 



Encyclopedic Biographies, 



or 



Hamlin Garland. 

One of the best-known makers of 
magazine literature is Hamlin Gar- 
land, who was born in West Salem, 
Wisconsin, September i6, i860, of 
English-Dutch parentage. In 1881 his 
studies were completed in Cedar Val- 
ley seminary, Wisconsin, and he next 
spent some years in traveling and 
teaching in the east. Later he took 
the lecture platform, was an occa- 
sional writer of sketches and short 
stories, and spent some time in Bos- 
ton studying and teaching. He is an 
ardent advocate of the single tax doc- 
trine and several of his works have 
to do with the struggles of the poor 
against existing conditions. He has 
also written a number of books of 
fiction. 

David G. Phillips. 

David G. Phillips, one of the latest 
of American authors to achieve a 
measurable success and to give prom- 
ises of a literary future, was born in 
Indianapolis in 1866, his father being 
a banker in that city. After a season 
spent in the local public schools and 
a preparatory collegiate course, Mr. 
Phillips went to Yale, and while there 
determined to become either a jour- 
nalist or an author. On graduating 
he decided to go into newspaper work 
and so became a member of the re- 
portorial staff of the New York 
World. It was not long before he 
attracted the attention of Mr. Joseph 
Pulitzer, the proprietor of the World. 
Mr. Phillips was in consequence given 
an editorial position. After some time 
spent in the service of the World, Mr. 
Phillips resigned in order to turn his 
Of his 



Charles George Douglas Roberts. 
C. G. D. Roberts inherited his lit- 
erary instinct. His father was the 
Rev. G. Goodrich Roberts, and he is 
a cousin of Bliss Carman, the poet, 
while several of his ancestors were 
professors in English universities. He 
was born in Canada in i860. Gradu- 
ating from the university of Bruns- 
wick, in 1879, he afterward and for 
several years taught in educational 
establishments in Canada, but in 1895 
devoted himself exclusively to literary 
work. In 1897 he became associate 
editor of the Illustrated American, 
but is best known as a writer of na- 
ture stories, several of which have 
passed through two or three editions. 

William Thomas Stead. 

William T. Stead, the founder of 
the Review of Reviews, and a con- 
stant contributor to a number of 
American newspapers, was born on 
July 3. 1849, at Embleton, England, 
being the son of the Rev. W. Stead, 
a Congregational minister. When 
fourteen years of age he was appren- 
ticed to a merchant at Nevvcastle-on- 
Tyne, England, and began to contrib- 
ute to local newspapers. His jour- 
nalistic promptings at length became 
so imperative that he deserted the 
commercial world, and after a pre- 
liminary struggle became assistant 
editor of the Pall Mall Gazette. Later 
he founded the Review of Reviews, 
and subsequently the American Re- 
view of Reviews. He takes an active 
interest in the larger questions of the 
day, such as international arbitration, 
psychological problems, etc. Mr. 
Stead has a place in his generation 
and fills it admirably. 



attention to novel writmg 

books A Golden Fleece and The Great 

God Success have been fairly well re- Vance Thompson. 

ceived, but his last work. The Con- Vance Thompson, a well known 

fessions of a Croesus, is distinctly the journalist, author and playwright, 

best thing that he has done in the was born on April 17, 1863. He grad- 



v.'ay of pure literature. 



uated from Princeton in 1883, and 



576 



The Romance of Reality, 



was subsequently a student of the 
University of Jena in Germany. He 
is well known in metropolitan jour- 
nalism, having held the position of 
dramatic critic for more than one 
New York newspaper, and he has 
also contributed liberally to leading 
magazines and daily publications in 
general. He is also known as a musi- 
cal critic. Mr. Thompson founded 
a fortnightly publication entitled 
Madamoiselle New York, which was 
characteristic of both him and his, 
and is the author of several plays, 
pantomimes and books. In 1890 he 
married Lillian Spencer, of New- 
York. 

Stewart Edward White. 

Stewart Edward White, the author, 
was born at Grand Rapids, Michigan. 
March 2, 1873. He studied at the 
high school of the town of his birth 
and graduated from the University 
of Michigan in 1895. Subsequently 
he came east and took a course in the 



Columbia law school. Mr. White is 
still a bachelor, is a fruitful contribu- 
tor to magazines, and has written 
some novels which have been given a 
respectful hearing, these including 
The Westerners and The Claim 
Jumpers. 

OWEX WiSTER. 

Owen Wister, who is best known 
to the public through the medium of 
his novel, The Virginians, was born 
at Philadelphia July 14. i860. He 
prepared for college at St. Paul's 
school. Concord, New Hampshire, 
and was graduated from Harvard in 
1892. being admitted to the Philadel- 
phia bar some years later. Instead 
of following the profession of a law- 
yer, however, he engaged in literary 
work. Apart from his novels, he has 
been a prolific contributor to maga- 
zines and other periodicals. His 
books are eminently readable, if they 
are nothing else. 



POETS. 



Thomas Bailey Aldrich. 

Judging from "The Story of a Bad 
Boy," which is partly autobiographi- 
cal, Thomas Bailey Aldrich spent his 
boyhood just as all wholesome-mind- 
ed, healthy boys do, in having a good 
time. He was born in Portsmouth. 
New Hampshire. November 11. 1836. 
While he was still a baby, his family 
went to New Orleans, but he was sent 
back to his native town to be edu- 
cated. After a common school course, 
he prepared to enter Harvard, but 
his father failed in business and soon 
afterward died. Although young Al- 
drich's relatives were prepared to pay 
the expenses of his college course, he 
preferred to be independent and de- 
cided to begin a business career. So 
it came about that he entered the 



offices of his uncle in New York city 
at the age of sixteen. About this 
time he began to contribute articles 
in prose and verse to Putnam's Mag- 
azine, The Knickerbocker Magazine 
and other periodicals. His literary 
ability finally got him a place in a 
publishing house as reader of manu- 
scripts and of proof. His first book. 
The Bells, did not attract much 
attention, but in 1856 he published 
The Ballad of Baby Bell and Other 
Poems, which struck the popular 
fancy. .About the year i860 he be- 
came an independent writer, contrib- 
uting to various publications, but 
chiefly to the .Atlantic Monthly. In 
1870 he became editor of Ever>- Sat- 
urday, a high-class literar>' weekly, 
which was founded in Boston and 



S77 



Encyclopedic Biographies, or 



effectively edited, yet only lived four 
years. In 1881 he succeeded Mr. 
Howells in the editorial chair of the 
Atlantic Monthly. In this same year 
both Mr. Howells and Mr. Aldrich 
received from Yale university the de- 
gree of LL.D. Mr. Aldrich retired 
from the Atlantic Monthly in 1890. 
In 1865 he was married to Miss Lil- 
lian Woodman, of New York cit)\ 
Several children were born to him. 

Buss Carman. 

Bliss Carman is a native of New 
Brunswick and began life as a civil 
engineer and school teacher. The 
muse won him, however, almost from 
boyhood, and he has written steadily, 
slowly and safely, which is equivalent 
to saying that he has written progres- 
sivel}-. Like many of the Canadian 
writers, he came to the United States 
to seek recognition. Here he met 
three other Canadians — C. G. D. Rob- 
erts, James Clarence Harvey and the 
late Richard Hovey. They formed a 
talented quartet of struggling poets, 
and their little world known as "Vag- 
abondia," was one of the most fasci- 
nating centers of American Bohe- 
mianism of the better type. Literary 
and artistic people coveted the privi- 
lege of entering therein. Mr. Carman 
and Mr. Hovey published several vol- 
umes of songs from "Vagabondia." 
The subject of this sketch is best 
known by his Coronation Ode and 
his Sapphic Fragments. There is 
a fine and tender quality in Mr. Car- 
man's poems that accounts for their 
popularity among people possessing 
that which is known as the "artistic 
temperament." 

Richard Le Gallienne. 

Richard Le Gallienne, who has a 
personality which accords with that 
of the traditional poet, is an Irish- 
man by birth. In spite of his critics, 
his place in the world of letters is 



57 



assured, mainly by reason of his 
poems, of which he has issued three 
volumes. Robert Louis Stevenson, 
an Elegy, is one of the best known 
of ]Mr. Le Gallienne's works, and 
ranks among the classic elegies of the 
English language. It is not too much 
to say that it compares favorably 
with Gray's Elegy in a Country 
Churchyard, Swinburne's Ave Et 
Vale, and Morris' Wordsworth's 
Grave. In Mr. Le Gallienne's verses, 
love, romance and dainty imagery are 
effectively mingled, and, as a rule, the 
results appeal to both heart and ear. 
His more ambitious works are those 
that have to do with literary criti- 
cism. He has also written books on 
Kipling and Meredith, which for 
vivid, close-range studies of the lives 
and purposes of two writers whose 
ideals are diametrically opposed, have 
rarely been equalled. The output of 
so-called literary criticism is so volu- 
minous that it "tires by vastness," 
yet the demand for the product of 
Mr. Le Gallienne's pen still exists. 
He is also the author of a number of 
novels. That he is of industrious 
habits is proven by the fact that, 
while only thirty-six years of age, he 
has produced thirty works, the last 
being an English rendition of the 
odes of the Persian poet, Hafiz, Mr. 
Le Gallienne is an example of the 
possibilities that are inherent in every 
man, who, having determined on a 
given line of work, proceeds to follow 
it to success. He has never been to 
college, but has educated himself and 
so possesses all that belongs to a col- 
lege curriculum. He has undergone 
the disappointments, deferred hopes, 
and all the rest of the unpleasant 
things that belong to the struggling 
literary man, and has conquered. The 
moral is obvious. 

Robert Mackay. 

Robert Mackay, who is one of the 

8 



The Romance of Reality. 



youngest, but none the less promis- 
ing of America's poets, was born in 
Virginia City, Nevada, 1871. His 
father, who is among the oldest of 
the living "Comstockers," settled in 
Nevada over fifty years ago, when 
the state was practically unknown to 
white men. The subject of this 
sketch began his literary work when 
a mere boy as a reporter on the San 
Francisco Chronicle. Subsequently 
he was editor and assistant editor of 
several papers on the Pacific coast. 
In 1895 he determined to travel over 
the world. The trip occupied the 
greater portion of five years, during 
which period he visited lands where 
white men were seldom seen. Natu- 
rally he gathered many experiences, 
and much valuable data. While Mr. 
Mackay has written a great many 
poems he has never compiled them in 
book form. He has a theory that too 
many young writers throw them- 
selves on the mercy of a public which 
do not know them and necessarily do 
not care for their callow wares. He 
therefore proposes to mature his 
work until he is satisfied that it has 
a fighting chance for public favor. 
Nevertheless he is by no means a 
stranger to the public. Those poems 
of his that have appeared in a num- 
ber of periodicals have made him 
many friends. Mr. Mackay's verses 
are finely fibered. Technically cor- 
rect, they are acceptable to those crit- 
ics who place mechanism on the same 
plane with motive. But they are 
more than finished specimens of the 
verse-maker's art. With deft and 
tender fingers he plays upon the heart 
chords of humanity, and these ring 
responsive to his sympathetic touch. 
His themes are those that are a? old 
as the race, and as imperishable. 
Mother love, wedded love, patrioti'^m, 
the eternal yearning for the higher 
life, the eternal problem of the here- 
after—such they are— and ihey are 



treated by him with a facile sincerity 
that marks him as a true poet — one 
who writes not for the sake of writ- 
ing, but because of inner spiritual 
promptings that will not be denied. 

CiNciNNATUs Heine Miller. 

The personality of Cincinnatus 
Heine ]\Iiller, better known as "Joa- 
quin" Miller, is as picturesque as has 
been his career. In turn a miner, 
lawyer, express rider, editor, poet 
and newspaper man, Mr. Miller has 
amassed a fund of experiences such 
as rarely falls to the lot of the ordi- 
nary individual. That his literary 
gifts enable him to reproduce in vivid 
fashion many of these same happen- 
ings is a matter for self-congratula- 
tion on the part of the reading pub- 
lic. What is yet more fortunate is 
that he preserves in his poems the 
breath of the prairie, the air of the 
mountains and the '"tang" of that 
west that is rapidly passing into 
nothingness. The poet was born in 
the Wabash district of Indiana, No- 
vember 10, 1841. In 1850 his parents 
removed to Oregon, and there is but 
little doubt that the wild and beauti- 
ful scenery amid which he spent his 
childhood had had much to do with 
fostering his then undeveloped poeti- 
cal instincts. When the famous rush 
of gold seekers to the Pacific coast 
took place in 1859, young Miller was 
among the .Argonauts. He does not 
appear to have been particularly suc- 
cessful in his hunt for gold, and re- 
turned to Oregon in i860. Then he 
began to study law, supporting him- 
self in the meantime by acting as ex- 
press rider in Idaho. In 1863 he 
started the Eugene (Ore.) Demo- 
cratic Register, which, however, had 
a brief existence. Later he opened a 
law oflice in Canon City, and in 1866 
went to London, where he remained 
until 1870. It was in that city that 
he published his first book of poems. 



579 



Encyclopedic Biographies, or 



It received a most favorable recep- 
tion, and established him as a poet 
of a unique type and quality. Return- 
ing to this country, he did some years 
of newspaper work in Washington, 
D. C-, but finally drifted back to the 
Pacific coast, and devoted himself en- 
tirely to literature. In 1897, acting as 
correspondent for the New York 
newspaper, 'he visited the Klondike to 
compare modern miners with those 
of '59. Some of his best known 
books of poems are Songs of the 
Sierras, Pacific Palms, The One Fair 
Woman, Songs of the Sunland. etc. 
He is also a playwright. One of the 
most important and successful of his 
dramas is The Danites. He lives in 
a picturesque home, known as the 
Heights, at Oakland, California. 

Henry Van Dyke. 

" Life is an arrow ; therefore you must know 
What mark to aim at and how to use the bow, 
Then draw it to the head and let it go." 

These words, as well as the career 
of the well-known author and clergy- 
man, the Rev. Dr. Henry Van Dyke, 
emphasize the fact that he has suc- 
cessfully pursued his all-absorbing 
ideal. He was born at Germantown, 
Pennsylvania, November 10. 1852, his 
father being the Rev. Henry Jackson 
Van DykQ. who is of Dutcli colonial 
blood. At the age of sixteen, and 



after graduating from the Brooklyn 
Polytechnic Institute, young Van 
Dyke entered Princeton college and 
received the degree of A.B., with 
highest honors, in 1873. While an 
undergraduate he was awarded the 
junior oration prize and senior prize 
in English literature. He was also 
reception orator on class day, and on 
commencement delivered the saluta- 
tory and belles lettres. Upon gradu- 
ating in the theological course from 
Princeton seminary, in 1876, he de- 
livered the master oration. Later he 
went to Germany to pursue his stud- 
ies in divinity at the University of 
Berlin, and, in 1878, returned to the 
United States, becoming pastor of the 
United Congregational church, New- 
port, Rhode Island, and remained 
there for four years. In 1882 he ac- 
cepted a call to the Old Brick Pres- 
byterian church, Fifth avenue and 
Thirty-seventh street. New York, 
which was founded in 1767. At that 
time the church membership was 
small and its financial condition far 
from satisfactory. But, thanks to the 
untiring efforts of the new pastor, it 
became one of importance, spiritually 
and in other ways. Since 1000 he has 
been professor in English literature 
at Princeton university. He is the 
author of numerous books of wide 
circulation. 



CELEBRITIES. 



Emma Moss Booth-Tucker. 

The late Emma Moss Booth-Tuck- 
er was born at Gateshead, England. 
January 8, i860. She was the second 
daughter of General William Booth, 
commander-in-chief of the Salvation 
army. Her first work in the army 
was when she was placed in charge 
of the national training homes. In 
1888 she married Commander Booth- 



Tucker and went with him to India, 
afterward returning to London and 
coming, in 1886, to the United States. 
She held the rank of counsel in the 
army and had equal authority with 
her husband in the direction of the 
affairs of the organization in this 
country. She was a fitting helpmate 
to her husband, a cheerful wife and 
a loving mother. 



58c 



The Romance of Reality. 



William Frederick Codv. 

William F. Cody, Buffalo Bill, was 
born in Scott county, Iowa, February 
26, 1846. His father was killed in 
the "Border war" in Kansas. At the 
beginning of the Civil war he be- 
came a pony express rider and later 
a government scout, guide and mem- 
ber of the Seventh Kansas cavalry. 
At the close of the war he contracted 
to furnish the Kansas Pacific railroad 
with all the buffalo meat required to 
feed the laborers engaged in con- 
structing the railroad, and in four 
months killed 4.280 buffaloes, which 
earned for him the sobriquet of Buf- 
falo Bill. During the Indian wars 
he served as a government scout and 
guide. In 1872 he was a member of 
the Massachusetts legislature. In 
1876. in the battle of Indian creek, he 
killed Yellow Hand, the Cheyenne 
chief, in a hand-to-hand fight Since 
1883 he has been the head of the 
Wild West show, which has traveled 
all over the world and exhibited be- 
fore most of the rulers of Europe. 

JoHX Wallace Crawtord. 

John Wallace Crawford, better 
known as the "Poet Scout," was born 
in Donegal. Ireland. March 4. 1847. 
During his early boyhood his parents 
emigrated to the United States. When 
the Civil war broke out he ran away 
from home to enlist, and joined the 
Forty-eighth Pennsylvania volun- 
teers. At that time Crawford was 
uneducated, and it was while lying 
wounded in a hospital at Philadelphia 
that he was taught to read and write 
by a sister of charity. After the war 
he became a government scout and 
served in several Indian campaigns. 
In 1866 he became a miner and ranch- 
man in the west, went to the Klon- 
dike in 1898. spending two years in 
that region. He is the author of 
many poems, over a hundred short 
stories and some songs. 



Lady M.\ry Victoria Curzu.v 

That truth is stranger than fiction 
is proven by Lady Mar>- Victoria 
Curzon, daughter of Levi Zeigler 
Leiier, of Chicago, and wife of Lord 
Curzon, viceroy of India. The social 
gulf between a dry goods clerk, as 
Mr. Leiter first was, and the help- 
mate of viceroy is so vast that extra- 
ordinary indeed must have been the 
chain of events which led to its be- 
ing bridged. Beginning life as a clerk 
in a general store, Mr. Leiter is now- 
one of the wealthiest and most nota- 
ble persons in the west. When his 
daughter married she did not do so 
for a title, for her husband, although 
prominent in English political life, 
was not made a baron until 1898, 
when he was coincidently appointed 
to the rulership of India. The sta- 
bility of the British empire is assured 
rather than weakened by its matri- 
monial alliances with the daughters 
of typical Americans. 

Mary Baker Glover Eddy. 

Mary Baker Glover Eddy, the dis- 
coverer and founder of Christian 
Science, was bom at Bow. New- 
Hampshire, July 21, 1821. She at- 
tended the public schools, but being 
a delicate child w-as educated mostly 
by private tutors. At an early age 
books, abstruse and metaphysical, 
were her delight — natural philosophy, 
and physical and moral science being 
her favorite subjects. At twelve years 
of age, her parents having removed 
to Tilton, New- Hampshire, she there 
joined the Congregational church, of 
which she remained a faithful mem- 
ber until founding the Church of 
Christ. Scientist, in Boston, in 1879. 
Mrs. Eddy has been married three 
times. She was ordained to the min- 
istry in 1881, and founded the Massa- 
chusetts medical college at Boston, 
chartered in the same year. She is 
also the founder of the Christian 



581 



Encyclopedic Biographies, 



or 



Science Journal, 1883, and the author 
of Science and Health, with Key to 
Scriptures, the text book of Christian 
Science, besides many other works on 
the subject. 

Ellen M. Stone. 

The romance which attaches to the 
missionary life has been emphasized 
by the experiences of Ellen yi. Stone. 
the Congregational missionary, who 
some time since became a prisoner 
of brigands in Turkey, and whose re- 
lease was only secured by the pay- 
ment of a large sum of money to her 
captors. She is about 58 years of 
age and was born in Chelsea, Massa- 
chusetts, coming of New England 
stock. At an early age she manifest- 
ed those religious tendencies which 
later prompted her to devote her life 
to missionary work. After the usual 
training in this country she was sent 
to Turkey by the Congregational 
board of missions in 1878, and up to 



the time of her capture had labored 
almost continuously in that country 
and the Slavic nations. She is to re- 
turn to the east shortly. 

Marietta Holley. 

The authoress of Josiah Allen's 
Wife, who is ^larietta Holley, pos- 
sesses a humor which is linked to 
pathos, and the result will remain, 
not so much on the score of the 
laughter which they excite as on ac- 
count of the things of the heart 
around which they center. Miss Hol- 
ley was born near North Adams. Jef- 
ferson county. New York. The great- 
er portion of her education was ob- 
tained by herself through the medium 
of diligent study at home. Gifted with 
musical, artistic and literary tastes, 
she decided to develop the latter. In 
addition to the book with which her 
name is generally identified, she is 
the creator of many other humorous 
works. 



AUTHORS. 



James Lane Allen. 

Among the many literary lights 
which the south has given us is 
James Lane Allen. He was born in 
Lexington, Kentucky, in 1849, and 
comes of one of the old Virginia fam- 
ilies. Shortly after the Civil war 
broke out Mr. Allen's father lost his 
fortune, and James in consequence 
had to work and attend school simul- 
taneously. He graduated with hon- 
ors from the Transylvania university, 
Lexington, in 1872. Then he began 
to teach for a livelihood. Subsequent- 
ly he was called to a professorship in 
Transylvania university, and later 
was a professor of Latin and higher 
English at Bethany college. West Vir- 
ginia. In 1884 he went to New York 
to make literature his profession. He 
was then unknown in that city, but 



soon gained recognition as one of the 
most poetic and dramatic of Ameri- 
can novelists. Of his many books 
The Choir Invisible, A Summer in 
Arcadia, and Aftermath, are perhaps 
the most in demand by the reading 
public. 

George Washington Cable. 

A novelist who works on original 
lines is George W. Cable. He was 
born in New Orleans, October 12, 
1844. At the age of fourteen neces- 
sity compelled him to seek employ- 
ment in a store. In 1863 he joined 
the Confederate army, serving until 
the close of the war. Returning to 
New Orleans, he became an employee 
of a mercantile house, and later stud- 
ied civil engineering. It was at this 
time that he began to contribute to 



582 



The Romance of Reality. 



the Xew Orleans Picayune and was 
at length given a position on its edi- 
torial staff. He returned to business 
life, writing in the meantime, how- 
ever, for Scribner's and other maga- 
zines. His sketches of Creole life 
were so well received that he finally 
decided to devote himself to litera- 
ture. He has produced a number of 
works whose chief characters are al- 
most all of the Creole type, is a suc- 
cessful lecturer, and takes an active 
interest in religious aflFairs. 

Winston Chukchill. 

Winston Churchill, the novelist, 
was bom in St. Louis, Missouri, No- 
vember 10, 1871. He received his 
early education at the Smith academy 
in that city, and when seventeen years 
of age was appointed a cadet of the 
United States naval academy at An- 
napolis. Graduating therefrom in 
1891, he joined the cruiser San Fran- 
cisco, but his tastes being more lit- 
erary than naval he resigned and be- 
came a member of the staff of the 
Army and Na\-y Journal, of New 
York. In 1895 he was made editor 
of the Cosmopolitan magazine, but a 
few months later resolved to identify 
himself with independent work on 
original lines. His first book. The 
Celebrities, won recognition and a 
certain amount of popularit>'. Mr. 
Churchill's reputation as a novelist 
rests for the most part on Richard 
Cartel and its sequel. The Crisis, 
which is hardly less popular than was 
its predecessor. 

FiL^xas Makion Cr-\wtokd. 

A clever and popular writer is 
Francis M. Crawford, who was bom 
at Bagni-di-Lucca, Itah', August 2, 
1854. He is a son of Thomas Craw- 
ford, the sculptor, and comes of a 
long line of literar>' and artistic an- 
cestors. Franci= was educated in 
New York schools, subsequently en- 



tering Harvard, but did not complete 
his course there. He was also a stu- 
dent at Cambridge university, Eng- 
land, and at the universities of Karls- 
ruhe and Heidelberg, Germany, and 
the university of Rome, where he 
gave special attention to Sanscrit. In 
1873 Mr. Crawford was compelled by 
circumstances to adopt journalism as 
a means of livelihood. Some years 
later he turned his attention to litera- 
ture proper, his first book, Mr. Isaacs, 
appearing in 1882. Among his other 
well-known works are A Cigarette 
Maker's Romance, The Three Fates, 
Zoroaster, etc. He is also an artist 
of considerable ability and has trav- 
eled extensively. He and his wife 
and children live near Sorrento, Italy. 

RtT)y.\RD Kipling. 

Rudyard Kipling, the poet and nov- 
elist who, perhaps more than any 
other writer of this generation, has 
voiced the militant spirit of the Brit- 
ish empire, was bom at Bombay. In- 
dia, December 30, 1865. His father 
was John Lockwood Kipling. Rud- 
j-ard was educated at the United Ser- 
vices college, Devonshire, England. 
Returning to India at the end of his 
school days, he became the assistant 
editor of the Civil-Militar>- Gazette, 
and subsequently was connected with 
the staff of the Pioneer, a prominent 
newspaper of the country. The well- 
known Soldiers Three series and 
those other of his works which have 
to do with army life in India were 
the outcome of his Pioneer experi- 
ences. In 1892 he married Caroline 
Balestier at Brattleboro, Vermont 
Mr. Kipling has not only a marvelous 
faculty of describing things as they 
acttially are, but he also has the pro- 
phetic instinct of the true poet As 
a case in point may be .cited his fa- 
m.o'js Recessional, written at the end 
of Queen Victoria's Jubilee. The full 
significance of the poem was only 



J83 



Encyclopedic Biographies, 



or 



realized by the British during the 
disastrous and humihating periods of 
the Boer war. In prose and poetry 
he has been ahke fruitful. 

Thomas Nelson Page. 

Thomas N. Page was born in Oak- 
land, Hanover county, Virginia, April 
23, 1853. The Civil war interfered 
with his education, and left the Page 
family in an impoverished condition. 
Nevertheless he, during this period, 
was gathering material which result- 
ed in the production of those two de- 
lightful books of his, Marse Chan and 
Meh Lady. Later he managed to se- 
cure a course at Washington and Lee 
university. At the law school of the 
University of Virginia he secured his 
degree in a year, and, after being ad- 
mitted to the bar, practiced in Rich- 
mond from. 1875 to 1893. During his 
leisure hours he did work which 



placed him on a high eminence as 
lecturer and literary man. His books 
are many, and for the most part have 
to do with the war between north and 
south and the reconstruction period 
following its close. 

Charles Major. 

Charles Major, the novelist, was 
born at Indianapolis, Indiana, July 
25, 1856. He was educated at the 
common schools at Shelbyville and 
Indianapolis, after which he studied 
law and engaged in practice at Shel- 
byville. But his literary tastes were 
stronger than his legal inclinations, 
and he began to contribute to maga- 
zines and to write novels. His most 
famous book, When Knighthood was 
in Flower, was issued in 1898, and 
reached an edition of several hundred 
thousand. In 1885 he was married to 
Alice Shaw. 



NOVELISTS. 



Gertrude Franklin Atherton. 

One of the most vivid and enter- 
taining interpreters of the complex 
characteristics of American woman- 
hood is the versatile and entertaining 
writer, Gertrude Franklin Atherton. 
She was born on Rincon Hill, San 
Francisco, California, October 30, 
1859, daughter of Thomas Lyman 
Horn, of German descent, and on her 
mothers side descended from a 
brother of Benjamin Franklin. She 
was educated at St. Mary's Hall, 
Benicia, California, also at Sayre In- 
stitute, Lexington, Kentucky, and by 
private tutors. In addition to this, 
she had obtained a good foundation 
in the classics, English especially, 
from the teachings of her grand- 
father. Before leaving school she 
was married to George Henry Bowen 
Atherton, a native of Valparaiso. 
Chili. After his death, in 1888. Mrs. 



Atherton went directly to New York 
city, beginning literary work in earn- 
est. As she never received courteous 
treatment from the press of her own 
country, she settled in London in 
1895, and there met with gratifying 
recognition. Some of her most im- 
portant works are: "The Dooms- 
woman." 1902; "Patience Sparhawk 
and Her Times," 1897; "His For- 
tunate Grace," 1897; "American 
Wives and English Husbands," 1898: 
"The Californians," 1898; "A Daugh- 
ter of the Vine," 1899; "Senator 
North," 1900. The latter is the first 
attempt in American fiction at a pure- 
ly national novel, disregarding sec- 
tion. The Leeds Mercury styled 
"The Californians" an oasis in fic- 
tion, while the British Weekly de- 
clared Mrs. Atherton to be the ablest 
writer of fiction now living. The 
brilliancy of her portraiture and the 



5S4. 



The Romance of Reality. 



humor and freshness of her dialogues 
are undeniable. A western writer 
says, '"The early days of the missions 
and Spanish rule have given her a 
most congenial field, and she has suc- 
cessfully reproduced their atmosphere 
in her best novels ; against the back- 
ground of their romantic traditions 
she paints the world, old, strong of 
passion, vague, dreamy, idyllic, yet 
strong and elemental." 

Amelia Edith Barr. 

Amelia Edith Barr was born at 
Ulverton, Lancashire. England, 
March 29. 1831. She was the daugh- 
ter of the Rev. William Huddleston. 
Her mother's family were among the 
followers of the noted evangelist, 
George Fox. She was educated in 
several good schools and colleges and 
was graduated, at the age of nine- 
teen, from Glasgow high school. In 
1850 she was married to Robert Barr, 
son of a minister of the Scottish Free 
Kirk. In 1854 Mr. and Mrs. Barr 
came to America, settling at Austin, 
and later at Galveston, Texas. Her 
husband and three sons died in 1857 
of yellow fever and Mrs. Barr was 
obliged to support herself and three 
daughters with her pen. Two years 
after Mr. Barr's death she came to 
New York city and received immedi- 
ate encouragement from Mr. Beecher, 
of the Christian Union, and Robert 
Bonner, of the New York Ledger. 
She taught school for two years, 
meanwhile writing various sketches 
and miscellaneous articles for maga- 
zines and newspapers. The work 
which gave her the greatest fame. "A 
Bow of Orange Ribbon." appeared in 
serial form in the Ledger. Since 1884 
she has devoted her time almost en- 
tirely to the writing of nnvels and 
short stories. 

Francf-S Hcdgsox Burnett. 

There are very few who are not 



acquainted with "Little Lord Fauntle- 
roy," one of the sweetest children's 
stories ever written, but not so many 
perhaps are acquainted with the in- 
teresting life story of its author, 
Frances Hodgson Burnett. She was 
born November 24, 1849, in Manches- 
ter, England, and while yet attending 
school she developed a talent for 
writing short stories and poems and 
even novels. When her father died 
her mother brought the family to 
America in 1865, settling at Newmar- 
ket, but a year later removing to 
Knoxviile, Tennessee. She then com- 
pleted a story which was planned in 
her thirteenth year, and succeeded in 
disposing of it to Godey's Lady's 
Book, in which it was published in 
1867. Other interesting short stori:s 
followed in this and in Peterson's 
Magazine, but the turning point of 
her literary success was "Surly Tim's 
Trouble." which appeared in Scrib- 
ner's Monthly in 1872, attracting a 
great deal of attention. At the invita- 
tion of the editor more of her publi- 
cations were published in Scribner's, 
one of the most popular being "That 
Lass o' Lowries," which appeared 
later in 1877 in book form. Mrs. 
Hodgson has been twice married, the 
first time, in 1873, to Dr. Swan M. 
Burnett, from whom she obtained a 
divorce in 1898. and the second time, 
in 1900. to Stephen Townsend. an 
English author. Mrs. Burnett, by 
winning a suit against the unauthor- 
ized dramatization of "Fauntieroy." 
secured for authors of England the 
control of dramatic rights in their 
stories, for which Readc and Dickens 
had spent thousands of pounds in 
vain. 

Pearl Mary Theresa Craigie. 

The authoress. Pearl Mary Theresa 
Craigie. more familiarly known as 
John Oliver Hobbes. was born in 
Boston, Massachusetts. November 3, 



J«5 



Encyclopedic Biographies, or 



1867, daughter of John Morgan and 
Laura Hortense (, Arnold) Richards. 
She is descended from early settlers 
of New York. After being educated 
under private tutors, ]\Iiss Richards, 
in 1883, went to Europe, continuing 
her studies in Paris. In 1887 she was 
enrolled as a student at University 
College, London, where, under the 
tuition of Professor Goodwin, she ob- 
tained an adequate knowledge of the 
classics and philosophy. In early 
childhood she was fond of writing. 
One of her first stories, entitled 
"Lost, A Dog," appeared in Dr. Jo- 
seph Parker's paper, The Fountain. 
This story was signed Pearl Rich- 
ards, aged nine. Another of her 
stories, entitled "How Mark Puddler 
Became an Innkeeper," appeared in 
The Fountain of February 10. i88r. 
At the age of eighteen she decided to 
make literature her profession and 
immediately took up a special study 
of style, especially dramatic dia- 
logues. Her first book, entitled "Some 
Emotions and a Moral," 1891, is an 
excellent example of success under 
difficulties. This book was composed 
during months of weary illness and 
amid the strain of domestic anxiety, 
but its success was immediate, for 
over eighty thousand copies were sold 
in a short time. Since then she has 
written several other novels. 

Mary Eleanor Wilkins-Freeman. 
"Wonderful in concentrated inten- 
sity, tremendous in power," this 
record of the heart tragedies of a 
dozen men and women is not sur- 
passed in our literature for its beauty 
of style, the delicacy of its character 
delineations, and the enthralling in- 
terest of its narrative. It is the praise 
merited by "Pembroke," the greatest 
work that has come from the pen of 
the author, Mary Eleanor Wilkins. 
She was born of Puritan ancestors 
January 7, 1862, in Randolph, Norfolk 



county, Massachusetts, and received 
her early education in Randolph, later 
removing to Brattleboro, Vermont. 
She afterward attended Mount Hol- 
yoke seminary, South Hadley, Alassa- 
chusetts, but previous to this she had 
already begun her literary work, writ- 
ing poems and then prose for Youth's 
Companion, St. Nicholas, Harper's 
Bazar and finally for Harper's Mag- 
azine. "A Humble Romance and 
Other Stories." 1887, placed Miss 
\Vilkins in the class with Mrs. Stowe, 
Aliss Jewett and other conspicuous 
authors as a delineator of New Eng- 
land character. The simplicity and 
the astonishing reality of her story 
brought a new revelation to New 
England itself. Her literary style 
displays a fearlessness of the critic 
and the dominating thought to be 
true to her ideal. "The Pot of Gold 
and Other Stories," 1891, and 
"Young Lucretia," 1892, are among 
her popular juveniles. "The New 
England Nun and Other Stories," 
called forth the most lavish praise. 
Her next work of importance, as well 
as her first novel, was "Jane Field." 
1892. When "Pembroke" appeared, 
in 1894, it was praised almost indis- 
criminately in England, some critics 
even venturing to say that George 
Eliot had never produced anything 
finer. 

Anna Katherine Greene. 

The simple stories and poems, 
written in her childhood, were the 
beginning of the career of the au- 
thoress, Anna Katherine Greene, who 
was born in Brooklyn, New York. 
November 11, 1846, daughter of 
James Wilson and Anna Katherine 
Greene. Her early education was ob- 
tained in the public schools of Nc-,v 
York city and Buffalo, and she com- 
pleted her course of study in Ripley 
Female College, Poultney, Vermont, 
graduating in 1867. Returning to 



586 



The Romance of Reality. 



her native city, she engaged in lit- 
erary work, and, in 1878, produced 
her first important novel, "The Leav- 
enworth Case."' She attracted imme- 
diate attention in literary circles. It 
had been carefully prepared and was 
given to the public only after repeated 
revisions. It had a phenomenal sale — 
already, in 1894. exceeding seven 
hundred and fifty thousand copies. 
From that time on there was a great 
demand from the publishers for books 
from her pen. and durinj the next 
seventeen years she wrote and pub- 
lished fifteen novels. The story of 
"The Leavenworth Case"' was dram- 
atized and produced during the sea- 
son of 1891 and 1892, her husband, 
Charles Rohlfs, to whom she had 
been married in 1884, sustaining the 
leading part, Harwell. The book 
is also used as a text-book in Yale 
university to demonstrate the fallacy 
of circumstantial evidence. 

Sarah Orxe Jewett. 

A writer paid a just tribute to the 
subject of this sketch when she wrote: 
"The secret of Sarah Jewett's great 
success outside of its artistic perfec- 
tion, is the spirit of loving kindness 
and tender mercy that pervades it." 
She was born at South Berwick. 
Maine. September 3, 1849. daughter 
of Theodore Herman Jewett. Her 
parents were both descendants of 
early English emigrants to Massa- 
chusetts. Sarah, owing to delicate 
health in childhood, spent much of 
her time communing with nature, 
where she received material and the 
inspiration that eventually made her 
such a popular writer. She was edu- 
cated at Berwick academy, in her na- 
tive city. When a mere girl she be- 
jran her career as an author by con- 
tributing to Riverside Magazine and 
Onr Young Folk?. At nineteen she 
sent a story to the .Atlartic Monthly, 
and has been averaging nearly a book 



a year ever since. Miss Jewett adopt- 
ed the pseudonym "Alice Elliott" in 
1881. but after that she used her own 
name instead. 

Constance Cary Harrison. 

Constance Cary Harrison, who is 
better known to the reading public as 
Mrs. Burton Harrison, was born in 
Fairfax county, Virginia, April 25, 
1846. She was educated by private 
governesses, and while under their 
tuition gave proofs of being the pos- 
sessor of literary ability. During the 
Civil war she lived with her family 
in Richmond, Virgirria. At the end 
of the conflict she went abroad with 
her mother to complete her studies 
in music and languages. Mrs. Har- 
rison has traveled much and has 
lived in nearly all of the continental 
capitals. She married Burton Harri- 
son, a well-known New York lawyer, 
and since her union to him has re- 
sided in the metropolis. Her works 
are many and range from children's 
fairy stories to works on social ques- 
tions, and again from small comedies 
to books on municipal problems. 

Elizabeth Stuart Phelps \V.\rd. 

Heredity and environment con- 
spired to make Elizabeth Stuart 
Phelps Ward a woman of letters. 
Her father, the Rev. Austin Phelps, 
was pastor of the Pine Street Con- 
gregational church of Boston at the 
time of her birth, August 31. 1844. 
In 1848 he became a professor in the 
theological seminary at Andover, 
Massachusetts, and thus his daughter 
Elizabeth grew up among a circle of 
thinkers and writers. She received 
most of her education from her 
father, but also attended the private 
school at Andover and the seminary 
of Mrs. Prof. Edwards, where she 
took a course of study equal to that 
of the men's colleges of today. At 
the age of nineteen she left school 



587 



Encyclopedic Biographies, or 



and engaged in mission work at Ab- 
bott Village and Factory Settlement, 
a short distance from her home. It 
was here she began an acquaintance 
with the lives and needs of working 
people, which resulted in books such 
as "Hedged In" and "Jack, the Fish- 
erman." Her first story was pub- 
lished in the Youth's Companion 
when she was only thirteen years old. 
In 1864 she published "A Sacrifice 
Consumed," in Harper's Magazine, 
which earned her right to the title 
"author." The book which has given 



her greatest fame, "The Gates Ajar," 
was begun in 1862 and was published 
in 1868. Nearly one hundred thou- 
sand copies were sold in the United 
States, and more than that number in 
Great Britain. It was also translated 
into a number of foreign languages. 
Probably ]Mrs. Ward has written 
more books worth while than any 
other woman writer of her time. In 
1888 ]Miss Phelps was married to 
Herbert D. Ward, and has co-oper- 
ated with him in writing several ro- 
mances. 



REFORMERS. 



George Thorndike An cell. 

George Thorndike Angell was bom 
at Southbridge, Massachusetts, June 
5, 1823. He was educated in the pub- 
lic schools and graduated from Dart- 
mouth College in 1846. After study 
at the Harvard law school he was 
admitted to the bar in 185 1. For 
thirty-four years he has headed the 
work for the humane treatment of 
animals and helpless human beings. 
In 1868, when a young man of twenty- 
two, he founded the Massachusetts 
society for the prevention of cruelty 
to animals. He has served as its 
president since its inception, no one 
being better fitted to fill the position. 
He has propagated his ideas on hu- 
manity to animals by many organiza- 
tions, and forty-four thousand "bands 
of mercy" speak for his efficient and 
zealous management. As an editor 
and publisher, his activity has been 
enormous, for in one year his socie- 
ties sent out 117,000,000 pages of lit- 
erature. His work for dumb brutes 
is so well known that it has over- 
shadowed those other forms of phi- 
lanthropy with which he has to do, 
and which in the case of an ordinary 
man w^ould have made him a reputa- 
tion. The work of the Social Science 



Association, of which Mr. Angell is 
a director, is of a varied nature, and 
ranges from the prevention of crime 
to the detection of food adulteration, 
or from the betterment of tenement 
houses to obtaining a higher standard 
of citizenship. 

Susan Brownell Anthony. 

Susan Brownell Anthony was born 
at Adams, IMassachusetts, February 
15, 1820. Her father, a Quaker, was 
a cotton manufacturer and gave her 
a liberal education. When she was 
seventeen years old her father failed 
in business and she had to support 
herself by school teaching, which pro- 
fession she followed for thirteen 
years. Aroused at the injustice of 
the inequality of wages paid to wo- 
men teachers, she made a public 
.speech on the subject at the New 
York Teachers' Association, which 
attracted w-ide attention. She con- 
tinued to work in the teachers' asso- 
ciation for equal recognition continu- 
ously and enthusiastically. In 1849 
she began to speak for the temper- 
ance cause, but soon became con- 
vinced that women had no power to 
change the condition of things with- 
rmt being able to vote at the polls, 



588 



The Romance of Reality. 



and from that time on she identified 
herself with the suffrage movement. 
She has written a great many tracts 
and was at one time the editor of a 
weekly paper called the Revolution. 
Her work. The History of Woman's 
Suffrage, which she prepared in con- 
junction with Elizabeth Cady Stanton 
and Matilda Joslyn Gage, attracted 
wide attention. 

Frfderick St. George de Lautour 
Booth-Tucker. 

Frederick St. George de Lautour 
Booth-Tucker was born vt Monghyr, 
India, March 21, 1853. He was edu- 
cated at the Cheltenham college, Eng- 
land, and, after passing the Indian 
civil service examination, was ap- 
pointed assistant comn anding magis- 
trate in the Punjab. He resigned in 
order to join the Salvation army in 
1881, inaugurated the Salvation Army 
work in India in 1882. and had charge 
of the work of the army there until 
1891, when he v.-as made secretary for 
the international work of the organi- 
zation in London. Since 1896 he has 
been in charge of the affairs of the 
army in the United States, in con- 
junction with his wife, Emma Moss 
Booth, whom he married, after which 
he adopted the name of Booth-Tuck- 
er. He is the author of a number 
of religious and other works and has 
considerable ability as an orator and 
organizer. Mr. Booth-Tucker has a 
magnetic personality, and with the 
practical side of his nature stands 
him in good stead in connection with 
his chosen walk in life. 

Anthony Com stock. 

Anthony Comstock, who has been 
described as the most honest and the 
best-hated man in New York city, 
was born in New Canaan, Connecti- 
cut. March 7, 1844. He received his 
education in district schools and 
academy and later at the High School 



at New Britain, Connecticut. Early 
in life he began to earn his own live- 
lihood, and in order to do so follow- 
ed several vocations in succession. 
His brother Samuel was killed fight- 
ing for the Union cause at Gettys- 
burg, and Anthony, volunteering to 
fill his place in the regiment, enlisted 
in the Seventeenth Volunteer Con- 
necticut Infantry and saw much ser- 
vice during the war. He was mus- 
tered out in July, 1805. On January 
25, 1871, he married Margaret Ham- 
ilton. In 1873 he was appointed post- 
master inspector in New York, later 
became prominent in Young Men's 
Christian Association affairs, and 
finally identified himself with the 
New York society for the suppres- 
sion of vice. Mr. Comstock's ser- 
vices in connection with what is his 
life work are too well known to be 
recapitulated. Possessing courage, 
moral and physical, of the highest 
order and a keen sense of his duties 
to the community in his ofl[icial capac- 
ity, Mr. Comstock has for years been 
a terror to evil-doers, especially 
those who pander to vicious instincts. 
He has brought nearly 3,000 criminals 
to justice and has destroyed over 80 
tons of obscene liter aire, pictures, 
etc. Altogether he is a notable figure 
in the complex life of New York, and 
the making of bitter enemies has 
necessarily followed on Mr. Com- 
stock's career. But these, many and 
influential as they are, have never 
successfully attacked his motives or 
his integrity. 

Wilbur Fiske Cr.\fts. 

The Rev. Wilbur Fiske Crafts was 
born at Fryeburg, Maine, January 12, 
1850. His father was the Rev. A. C. 
Crafts. In i86q the future author, 
lecturer and clergyman graduated 
from Wesleyan University, Connecti- 
cut, subsequently taking the post- 
graduate course in Boston Univer- 



589 



Encyclopedic Biographies, or 



sity. On leavinp college he became a 
minister of the Methodist Episcopal 
Church, holding charges for several 
years therein and laying the founda- 
tion for the reputation which now 
attaches to him. Later, however, Mr. 
Crafts decided that the tenets of the 
Congregational denomination were 
more to his liking, and accordingly 
accepted a call to a Congregational 
church in Brooklyn, Still later he 
became a Presbyterian pastor in New 
York. Resigning from the ministry, 
he was made superintendent of the 
International Reform Bureau,, the ob- 
ject of which is to secure moral legis- 
lation in the United States and Can- 
ada with the assistance of lectures, 
literature and per.sonal example and 
influence. He is the author of many 
works, the majority of which are of a 
religious nature, or deal with social 
questions. 

Elbridge Thomas Gerry. 

Elbridge Thomas Gerry, born in 
New York city, December 25, 1837, 
was named after his grandfather, 
who was one of the vice-presidents 
of the United States and a signer of 
the Declaration of Independence. Mr. 
Gerry was educated in the New York 
public schools, and graduated from 
Columbia college in 1858. He was 
admitted to the bar in i860. He acted 
as vice-president, until 1899, of the 
American society for the prevention 
of cruelty to animals. He was chair- 
man of the New York state commis- 
sion on capital punishment from 1886 
to 1888. Since 1891 he has been presi- 
dent of the annual convention of the 
New York societies for prevention of 
cruelty. He is trustee of the general 
theological seminary of the Presby- 
terian-Episcopal church and also 
trustee of the American museum of 
natural history, and of the New York 
Mutual Life Insurance company. Be- 
sides that, he is a member and direc- 



tor of various corporations and so- 
cieties. Since 1876 he has been presi- 
dent of the New York society for the 
prevention of cruelty to children, 
which society is generally known as 
the Gerry Society. He has one of 
the largest private law libraries in the 
United States. Mr. Gerry is one of 
those conscientious citizens whose 
work for the public good has been as 
continuous as it has been successful. 

William Reuben George. 

William R. George was born at 
West Dryden, New York, June 4, 
1866. He was educated in the com- 
mon schools. His parents came to 
New York city in 1880, where he 
later engaged in business. Becoming 
interested in poor boys and girls, he, 
during the seasons of 1890 to 1894, 
took two hundred of them to the 
country for from two weeks to a 
month to spend a portion of their 
school vacations with him. Impressed 
with the large number of children 
endeavoring to live by charity, he 
conceived, in 1894, the plan of re- 
quiring payment in labor for every 
favor the youngsters received, and, in 
addition, instituted a system of self- 
government. This was the beginning 
of a junior republic, which was put 
into practical operation in 1895 and 
has continued successfully ever since. 
He was married November 14, 1896, 
to Esther B. George, of New York. 
To Mr. George belongs the credit of 
inaugurating a novel and praise- 
worthy method of fostering good 
citizenship. 

Charles Henry Parkhurst. 

The Rev. Dr. Charles Henry Park- 
hurst was born in Framingham, Mas- 
sachusetts, April 17, 1842. His father 
worked on a farm in summer and 
taught school in winter. Until six- 
teen years of age Charles was a pupil 
of the Clinton (Mass.) grammar 



590 



The Romance of Reality. 



school. The two j-cars following he 
acted as clerk in a dry goods store. 
At the age of cigiiteen he hcgan to 
prepare for college at Lancaster acad- 
emy. At the end of the course there, 
he went to Amherst, from whence he 
graduated in 1866. The following 
year he became principal of the Am- 
herst high school, remaining there 
until 1870, when he visited Germany. 
On his return he became professor 
of Greek and Latin in VVilliston semi- 
nary, holding that position for two 
years, during which period he mar- 
ried a Miss Bodman, a pupil of his 
while a teacher at Amherst. Accom- 
panied by his wife, he next made a 
trip to Europe to study at Halle. 
Leipzig, and Bonn. Again in this 
country he received a call to the pas- 
torate of the First Congregational 
church in Lenox, Massachusetts, 
where he soon gained a reputation as 
an original and forceful pulpit orator. 
On March 9, 1880, he became pastor 
of the Madison Square Presbyterian 
church. New York city, the call being 
the outcome of his w^ork at Lenox. 
He immediately began to take a lively 
interest in city and national politics, 
and one of his sermons attracted the 
attention of Dr. Howard Crosby, 
president of the society for the pre- 
vention of crime, in which society Dr. 
Parkhurst was invited to become a 
director. A few montbs later Dr. 
Crosby died and Dr. Parkhurst was 
chosen as his successor. Dr. Park- 
hurst has done more for reform in 
New York city than any other single 
individual. His courageous course in 
connection with the Lexow investiga- 
tion of certain phases of life in New 
York will not be readily forgotten. 

Elizaiif.tii C.\dv St.xnton. 

That which is popularly, if some- 
what vaguely, characterized as the 



"Cause of women" in thi.*; country, is 
closely identified with the name of 
Elizabeth Cady Stanton. Many years 
of her life were spent in promoting 
the cause of her sex politically and 
legally, and that her work has not 
been fruitless is proven by the fact 
that as long ago as 1840 she advo- 
cated the pas-sage of the Married 
Woman's Property bill, which be- 
came a law in 1848. That measure 
alone is sufficient to obtain for Mrs. 
Stanton the gratitude of her sex. She 
was born in Johnstown, New York, 
November 12, 1815, being the daugh- 
ter of Daniel C. Cady, judge of the 
New York State Supreme Court. She 
obtained her education at the Johns- 
town academy and the Emma Willard 
seminary, Troy. New York, graduat- 
ing from the latter institution in 1S32. 
Eight years later she married Henry 
Brewster Stanton, a state senator, 
anti-slavery orator and lawyer. From 
the first Mrs. Stanton identified her- 
self with "Woman's Rights," and she 
it was who called the first woman's 
rights convention, the meeting taking 
place at Seneca Falls, New S'ork. in 
July, 1848. Continually working on 
the lines indicated, she has for the 
last quarter of a century annually ad- 
dressed congress in favor of embody- 
ing woman suffrage in the constitu- 
tion of the United States. In 1861 
she was president of the Woman's 
Loyal League, and through the me- 
dium of her personality made it a 
power in the land. From 1865 to 
1893 she held the office of president 
of the Woman Suffrage Associa- 
tion. In 1868 she was a candidate for 
congress. Her eightieth birthday, 
which took place in 1895, was cele- 
brated imder the auspices of the Na- 
tional Council of Women, three hun- 
(hr(\ delegates attending the conven- 
tion. 



591 



Encyclopedic Biographies, or 



PHILANTHROPISTS. 



cago City Railway Company and oth- 
er corporations. He has made hand- 
some donations to various colleges 
and charities there, including $280,000 
to the Chicago theological seminary 
and $200,000 to Beloit college. He 
has also contributed to the treasuries 
of several other educational establish- 
ments. Mr. Pearsons seems to be a 
pupil of Mr. Andrew Carnegie in 
some respects, inasmuch as he has a 
profound belief in the wisdom of dis- 
tributing his money for praiseworthy 
purposes during his lifetime. 



Mrs. Phoebe Appersin Hearst. 

Mrs. Phoebe Appersin Hearst was 
born in 1840. After an education in 
the public schools she became a 
teacher in them until 1861, when she 
married the late United States Sen- 
ator George F. Hearst from Califor- 
nia, who died, in 1891, leaving her and 
her son, William Randolph Hearst, a 
fortune of many millions. W. R. 
Hearst is the well-known newspaper 
owner and publisher. I\Irs. Hearst 
has established kindergarten classes 
and the manual training school in 
San Francisco, kindergartens and the 

kindergarten training school in ^^^s. Henry Codman Potter. 
Washington, District of Columbia; 
has made donations to the American 
university at Washington, gave $200,- 
000 to build a national cathedral 
school for girls, has established work- 
ing girls' clubs in San Francisco, is 
the patron of a school for mining 
engineers at the University of Cali- 
fornia, and, as a memorial to her hus- 
band, has built and endowed libraries 
in a number of mining towns in the 
west. In connection with the plans 
for the projected University of Cali- 
fornia, she has also agreed to erect 
two buildings to cost between three 
and four million of dollars. 



D.A.NIEL Kimball Pearsons. 

Daniel K. Pearsons was born at 
Bedford. Vermont, April 14. 1820, and 
was educated in the public schools. 
Entered college at Woodstock, Ver- 
mont, and was graduated as a physi- 
cian, practicing in Chicopee, Massa- 
chusetts, until 1857. He removed to 
Ogle county, Illinois, and became a 
farmer, 1857 to i860, and in the latter 
year began the real estate business in 
Chicago, which he continued until 
1887, when he retired from business 
but remained a director of the Chi- 



The dominant quality of the char- 
acter of the wife of Bishop Henry 
Codman Potter, of the diocese of 
New York, is undoubtedly charity. 
Her maiden name was Elizabeth L. 
Scriven, and she was born in 1849 
in New York, coming of good Ameri- 
can stock. She has been married 
twice, her first husband being Alfred 
Corning Clark, who in his lifetime 
controlled the Singer sewing machine 
interests and who also had extensive 
real estate holdings in the metropolis. 
When Mr. Clark died he left an es- 
tate of an estimated value of about 
$30,000,000, the bulk of which, after a 
liberal allowance made to his four 
children, went to his widow. All her 
life Mrs. Potter has given largely to 
charity and philanthropic enterprises. 
She has done excellent work in New 
York in connection with improve- 
ments in tenement houses, those that 
she owns being ideal dwellings in re- 
gard to construction, light, ventilation 
and sanitary arrangements. At Coop- 
erstown, New York, which is her 
home, Mrs. Potter has spent large 
sums of money in beautifying the vil- 
lage. She gives annually a dinner to 
a thousand poor persons, and has a 



592 



The Romance of Reality. 



long list of private pensioners. Her 
marriage to Bishop Potter took place 
on October i, 1902, at Cooperstown. 

Mrs. Theodore Roosevelt. 

The maiden name of the wife of 
President Roosevelt was Edith Ker- 
mit Carow, and she, like her husband, 
comes of one of the most distinguish- 
ed of the older families of New York. 
Born in the metropolis in the old 
Carow mansion, Fourteenth street 
and Union square, her father was 
Charles Carow. and her grandfather 
General Tyler Carow, of Norwich, 
Connecticut. She was educated at a 
school kept by a Miss Comstock on 
West Fortieth street. She was mar- 
ried to the President on December 2, 
1886, at St. George's church. Hanover 
square, London, the ceremony being 
performed by Canon Cammadge, who 
is a cousin of Mrs. Roosevelt. For- 
tune has never been more kind to Mr. 
Roosevelt than when she gave him 
the amiable and beautiful woman 
who bears his name. The Roosevelt 
children seem to have inherited many 
of the attractive qualities of their 
mother. 

Mrs. Russell Sage. 

Mrs. Russell Sage was born at 
Syracuse, New York, in 1828. She 
was the daughter of the Hon. Joseph 
Slocum. Educated at first in private 
schools of Syracuse, it had been in- 
tended that she should go to college 
later, but financial disaster altered the 
plans of the family. After working 
at home to help her mother for some 
time, she started for Mount Holyoke 
college, intending to do housework 
in that institution in order to pay for 
her board. On her way thither she 
was taken sick in Troy, and when 
she recovered she, at the request of 
her uncle, entered the Troy female 
seminary. In 1869 she became the 
second wife of Russell Sage, the 



financier. Mrs. Sage's charities are 
large; slie has built a flormitory cost- 
ing $120,000 in the Emma Willard 
seminary and gives annually large 
sums of money to various hospitals 
and other praiseworthy institutions. 

Mrs. Leland Stanford. 

Mrs. Jane Lathrop Stanford was 
born at Albany, New York, August 
25, 1825. Was educated in the pub- 
lic schools there, and in 1848 mar- 
ried Leland Stanford. In 1855 she 
went with her husband to California. 
Mr. Stanford took a prominent part 
in the public affairs of the state, and 
in 1861 was elected its governor. _ A 
son was born, who died when six- 
teen years of age in Florence, Italy. 
Mr. Stanford founded the university 
which bears his name, in memory of 
his boy. Since her husband's de- 
mise Mrs. Stanford has given further 
endowments to the institution, the 
total amount of which is said to be 
several million dollars. She has also 
given liberally to other educational 
institutions. 

.An.son Phelps Stokes, Sr. 

An.son Phelps Stokes, Sr., financier 
and public-spirited citizen, was born 
in New York, February 22, 1S38, be- 
ing the son of James and Caroline 
(Phelps) Stokes. He was educated 
in private schools and in 1855 mar- 
ried Helen Louise, daughter of Isaac 
Newton Phelps. Becoming connected 
with the firm of Phelps, Dodge & 
Co., merchants, he afterward became 
a partner in the banking firm of 
Phelps, Stokes & Co.. of New York. 
He is director and trustee of a num- 
ber of philanthropic institutions and 
hospitals, owns interests in varied 
corporations and is a prominent mem- 
ber of several clubs whose objects it 
is to promote municipal and legisla- 
tive reform. Mr. Stokes has written 
two books on financip.I questions. 



593 



Encyclopedic Biographies, or 



DIVINES. 



Lyman Abbott. 

Dr. Lyman Abbott is an illustration 
of the fact that a young man who is 
gifted with more than ordinary in- 
tellect and even genius need not be 
discouraged, even if his first inten- 
tions regarding his life work come to 
naught by force of circumstances or 
unlooked-for developments within 
himself. He was born December i8, 
1835, in Roxbury, Massachusetts, be- 
ing the son of Jacob and Harriet Ab- 
bott. Graduating from the College 
of the City of New York in 1853, he 
took a course at Harvard, after 
which, and in accordance with his 
prearranged plans, he took a law 
course, was admitted to the bar and 
began to practice. But his literary 
instincts and religious convictions re- 
sulted in his finally abandoning the 
law. After a good deal of writing 
for a number of publications and 
more theological studies, he was 
finally ordained a Congregational 
minister in i860, being made pastor 
of a church at Terre Haute, Indiana, 
in the same year. Leaving Indiana, 
he came to New York and took 
charge of the New England Congre- 
gational Church in that city. In 1869 
he resigned the pastorate in order to 
devote himself to literature. He 
edited the Literary Record Depart- 
ment of Harper's Magazine and was 
associate editor with Henry Ward 
Beecher on the Christian Union. He 
succeeded Mr. Beecher as pastor of 
Plymouth Church, Brooklyn, in May, 
1888, but resigned in 1898 and is once 
more prominent in religious literary 
circles. On October 14, 1857, he mar- 
ried Abby F. Hamlin, daughter of 
Hannibal Hamlin, of Boston. He is 
the author of a great many works of 
a religious nature and of others 
■which deal with social problems. At 



present he is editor of The Outlook, 
of New York city. 

Theodore Ledyard Cuyler. 

Theodore Ledyard Cuyler, the 
clergyman whose striking sermons 
have made him famous the world 
over, was born at Aurora, New York, 
January iq, 1822. He was educated 
at Manheim, New Jersey, and Prince- 
ton college, from \/.ich he graduated 
in 1841. After spending a brief period 
in traveling in Europe, he entered the 
theological seminary at Princeton, 
from which he graduated in 1846, and 
was ordained by the presbytery in 
1848. His first charge was at a small 
church near Wilkesbarre, Pennsyl- 
vania, where he remained for six 
months. He was then called to the 
Presbyterian church of Burlington, 
New Jersey. In 1849 he became pas- 
tor of the Third Presbyterian church 
of Trenton, New Jersey, and in 1853 
he was invited to the Market Street 
Dutch Reformed Church, New York 
city. He was one of the leaders in 
the great revival of 1858, and in i860 
he was called to the Lafayette Ave- 
nue Presbyterian church, Brooklyn. 
This was a j^oung church and was not 
in a very prosperous condition, but 
the new pastor infused life into it 
from the first, and, in 1861, his con- 
gregation commenced the building of 
a new church at the corner of Lafay- 
ette avenue and South Oxford street. 
This building was completed in 
March, 1862, and cost $60,000. In 
1893 Dr. Cuyler withdrew from active 
charge of the church and determined 
to devote the remainder of his years 
to the ministry at large. Dr. Cuyler 
was married, in 1853, to Annie E. 
Mathist, of Newark, Ohio, and has 
two children. His writings and 
printed sermons have been widely 



594 



The Romance of Reality. 



circulated. Among tlicm are : 
Thought Hives, Stray Arrows, The 
Empty Crib, The Cedar Christian. 
One of his most famous tracts, Some- 
body's Son, had a circulation of over 
one hundred thousand copies. Many 
of his articles and tracts have been 
translated into several languages, and 
his contributions to the religious 
press have been more numerous than 
those of any living writer. 

Edward Everett Hale. 

Edward Everett Hale was born in 
Boston, April 3, 1822, and after pass- 
ing through the public schools entered 
the Boston Latin school. He was 
graduated from Harvard in 1839, and 
for two years acted as usher in the 
Latin school, studying theology in 
the meantime. On October 13, 1852, 
he married, at Hartford, Connecticut, 
Emily Baldwin Perkins. He has been 
a prominent promoter of Chautauqua 
circles and was the founder of the 
"Lcnd-a-Hand" clubs. He has prob- 
ably traveled as much and delivered 
more lectures than any other man in 
this country. The fact that the cata- 
logue of Harvard university lists 
more than one hundred and thirty 
titles of books and pamphlets on 
varied subjects of which he is the 
author shows how prolific has been 
his pen. Fiction, drama, narrative, 
poetry, theology, philosophy, politics- 
all are treated by him in a masterly 
way. He is never dull or common- 
place, but invariably suggestive and 
practical. One of his masterpieces 
!s A Man Without a Country, which 
was written in war time. This story 
alone would have given him lasting 
fame. Yet it is not as an author, a 
great scholar, a great teacher, a great 
orator, or a great statesmian that Dr. 
Hale will be remembered, but, as 
William Dean Howells has said, his 
name will go down in history as "a 
great American citizen." 



Benjamin Fay Mills. 

Benjamin Fay Mills was born at 
Rahway, New Jersey,, June 4, 1857. 
His father was a clergyman. Edu- 
cated in the public schools and at 
Phillips academy, .^ndover, he gradu- 
ated from Lake Forest university, 
Illinois, in 1879. I" the same year he 
married Mary Russell, and in the 
year following he was ordained pas- 
tor of the Congregational church at 
Rutland, Vermont. From 1886 to 
1897 he acted in an evangelistic capac- 
ity and conducted meetings through- 
out the country. In 1897 he withdrew 
from the orthodox church and in- 
augurated independent religious 
movements in the Boston music hall 
and Hollis street theatre. Since 1889 
he has been the pastor of the First 
Unitarian church, Oakland, Califor- 
nia. He is eloquent, magnetic and 
convincing and has the gift of play- 
ing on the emotions of an audience 
in a manner possessed by few speak- 
ers within or without the church. 

Henry Codman Potter. 

There have been a great many 
clergymen in the Potter family, and 
doubtless the Right Reverend Henry 
Codman Potter, bishop of the dio- 
cese of New York, had an inclina- 
tion for the pulpit which was an an- 
cestral inheritance. He is the son of 
Bishop Alonzo Potter, of Pennsyl- 
vania, and was born at Schenectady, 
New York. May 2s, 1835. He was 
educated at the Philadelphia Acad- 
emy of the Protestant Episcopal 
church, and later at the theological 
seminary in Virginia. Graduating 
therefrom in 1857, he was at once 
made a deacon and one year later was 
ordained to the priesthood. Until 
1850 he had charge of Christ P. E. 
church, Greensburg. Pennsylvania, 
when he was transferred to St. 
John's, P. E. church, Troy, New 
York ; for seven years he was rector 



59 S 



Encyclopedic Biographies. 



of that parish. He then became an 
assistant of Trinity P. E. church, 
Boston, and in May, 1868, was made 
rector of Grace P. E. church, New 
York. For sixteen years he was iden- 
tified with the affairs of that famous 
church. In 1883 he was elected an 
assistant to his uncle, Bishop Hora- 
tio Potter, who presided over the dio- 
cese of New York. A short time after 
entering on his duties as such, his 
imcle withdrew from active work and 
the care of the diocese fell upon the 
younger man. On January 2, 1887, 
Bishop Horatio Potter died and was 
succeeded by his nephew. His dio- 
cese is the largest in point of popu- 
lation in the United States. Eloquent, 
earnest and devoted to his life work, 
Bishop Potter commands the love 
and respect of all of those with whom 
he comes in contact. 

William Taylor. 

William Taylor was born in Vir- 
ginia May 2, 1821. Reared on a farm, 
he learned the tanning business. He 
entered the Methodist ministry in 
1842. Going to California with the 
"Forty-niners" as a missionary, he 
remained there until 1856. He next 
spent a number of years traveling in 
Canada, New England and Europe. 
After conducting missionary services 
in Australia, New Zealand and Tas- 
mania, he visited South Africa and 
converted many Kaffirs to Christian- 
ity. From 1872 to 1876 he nrgani/'ed 
a number of churches in India and in 
South America. He also established 
mission stations on the Congo pnd 
elsewhere in Africa. He has written 



a number of books, the most interest- 
ing of which is, without doubt. The 
Story of My Life. In 1884 he was 
made missionary bishop for Africa. 

John Heyl Vincent. 

John Heyl Vincent, bishop of the 
Methodist Episcopal Church and 
chancellor of the Chautauqua .system, 
was born in Tuscaloosa, Alabama. 
February 2^, 1832. He was educated 
at Lewisburg and Milton, Pennsyl- 
vania, and as a mere boy gave evi- 
dence of the religious trend of his 
nature. When only eighteen years of 
age he was a preacher, and many of 
his then sermons are said to have 
been both eloquent and convincing. 
After studying in the Wesleyan In- 
stitute of Newark, New Jersey, he 
joined the New Jersey Conference in 
1853, was ordained deacon and four 
years later was made pastor. He had 
several charges in Illinois between 
1857 and 1865, and during the next 
fourteen years brought into being a 
number of Sunday school publica- 
tions. He was one of the founders 
of the Chautauqua Assembly and was 
the organizer of the Chautauqua Lit- 
erary and Scientific Circle, of which 
he has held office of chancellor since 
its inception. In igoo he was made 
resident bishop in charge of the Euro- 
pean work of the church with which 
he was associated. He is preacher to 
Harvard, Yale, Cornell, Wellesley 
and other colleges. As an author of 
helpful and interesting religious 
works. Dr. Vincent is well known to 
all students of American literature. 



596 



INDEX. 



Page 

A 

Abbey, Edwin Austin 3" 

Abbott. Lyman 594 

Acheson. E. G 50o 

Adams. Maude 561 

Adc, George 573 

Alden, Cynthia -Mav Wcstovcr. . 563 

Alden, Henry Mills 540 

Aldricli, Nelson Wilmarth 521 

Aldrich. Thomas Bailey 577 

Allen, James Lane 582 

Allen, T. S 57i 

Allen. Viola 502 

Allison. William Boyd 497 

Alma-Tadema, Laurence 567 

Andrews. Elisha Benjamin 530 

Angell. George Thorndike 588 

Anthony, Susan Brownell 588 

Astor. William Waldorf 518 

Atherton, Gertrude Franklin.... 584 

B 

Bacr, George F 509 

Baldwin, Evelyn Briggs 532 

Bangs, John Kendrick 573 

Barr, Amelia Edith 585 

Barrymore. Ethel 562 

Barton, Clara 504 

Bell, Alexander Graham 5i3 

Belmont, Perry 509 

Beveridge, Albert J 54^^ 

Bispham. David Scull 554 

Black. Frank Swett 524 

Bok, Edward William 540 

Bonnat, Leon J. Florentm 507 

Bonsai. Stephen 575 

Booth-Tucker, Emma Moss 580 

Booth-Tucker. F. St. George DcL. 589 
Bouguereau, Guillaume Adolphc 508 

Breton, Jules Adolphc 508 

Brush. Charles Francis 5i3 

Brvan, William Jennings 521 

Buckley. James Monroe 54 1 

Burnett. Frances Hodgson 5^5 



Page 

Burroughs, John 402 

Bush, Charles G 57i 

Butler. Nicholas Murray 53^ 

c 

Cable. George Washington 582 

Calve, Emma 554 

Carman, Bliss 578 

Carnegie. Andrew 5' 

Carter, Leslie ( Mrs. ) 562 

Cassatt. Alexander Johnston 510 

Chaffee. Adna Romanzo 528 

Chishoim. Hugh 504 

Choate. Joseph H 190 

Churchill. Winston 583 

Clark. Champ 548 

Clark. Francis Edward 564 

Clemens. Samuel Langhorn 573 

Cleveland. Grover 497 

Clews. Henry 5i8 

Clowrv. Robert C M4 

Cockran. William Bourke 548 

Cody, William Frederick 581 

Collyer. Robert 441 

Comstock. Anthony a89 

Conwell. Russell H 426 

Cook, Frederick Albert 532 

Cooper. Edward S'o 

Coudcrt. Frederick Rene 524 

Crafts. Wilbur Fiskc .s8o 

Craigie. Pearl M. Theresa 585 

Crane. William H 557 

Crawford. Francis Marion 58.^ 

Crawford. John Wallace. 581 

Cur/^on. l.ndv Mary Victoria.... 581 
Cuylcr. Theodore Ledyard 5^4 

D 

Dalrymplc, Louis 57' 

Damrosch. Walter Johannes 55° 

Daniels. George Henry 5io 

Daniels John Warwick 549 

Davenport. Homer 334 

Davi<. Richard Harding 575 

597 



Index-— continued. 



DeKoven, Henry L. Reginald 

DeLussan, Zelie 

Depew, Chauncey AI 

De Reszke. Edouard...". 

De Reszke, Jean. 

De ThuJstrup, Thure. .'. ■.■■.■.■■ 

De Vinne, Theodore Lowe. . . ! .' ." cL 



Page 

551 
554 

207 

554 
555 
570 



Dewey, Georg, 

Dickinson, Mary Lowe 

Dill, James Brooks (-2=- 

Dixon. Thomas, Jr -g- 

Dodge, William de Leftwich.' .' .' .' 570 
Dolhyer, Jonathan P. (Senator) 219 
Doiihleday. Frank Nelson. ... cA 

Douglas. William Louis " .ot 

Drew, John ' ^ ^ 

Dumont, Santos 

Dunne, Finley Peter 

Duran. Carolus 

Duse, Eleanora 



565 



558 
514 
574 
568 
562 



Eames, Emma 

Eastman, Charles 
Eddy, Mary Baker ' Glover ' 
Edison. Thomas Alva 
Eliot, Charles William. .'.'.' 
Evans, Robley Dunglison. . 



506 
581 
17 
537 
529 



Faunce, William H. P c,-. 

Field. Marshall ^l 

Flint, Charles Ranlett.. cq 

Ford, Simeon. " 

Freeman, Mary e'. ' "(wilkins 

rrceman) 

Frye, William Pierce 

Fuller. Melville Weston. 

Hink. Isaac Kauffman. . 
inmston, Fred 



80 

I 
574 



586 



525 
544 
529 



Gage, Lyman Judson .-,, 

Garland, Hamlin ';i 

George, William Reuben.".;::" ?oo 

Gerome, Jean Leon ' .^« 

Gerrv, 



568 



Elbridge Thomas...::::: 590 



Charles Dana ,42 



leri wether. 



Gibson „„..„ 

Gilder, Richard wItTon. 

Gillette, William Hooker 

Gilmer, Elizabeth M 

Gompers, Samuel 

Goodwin, Nathaniel C 

Gorman. Arthur Pue. 

Gould, George Jay. r„ 

Gould. Helen Miller. . : : :::::" ' ^T , 

Grau, Maurice 
Gree 



541 
558 
574 
164 
559 
522 



413 

551 



Hetty (Mrs.) : J^^ 

Greene, Anna Katherine... 



Griffin, Sydney B 

Griggs. John William.: 
Gnscoin. Clement Acton 
Gunsaulus, Frank W. 



586 
572 
526 
Sii 
432 



H 



559 
[.-,0 

'ard Everett. .". . . ' tq- 

^larcus Alonzo " " r,o 

^'"■-'"i^ 563 

539 
305 
523 
587 
541 



Hackett, James Keteltas. . 

Hadley. Arthur Twinincr 

Hale, Ed 

Hanna, 

Harned 

Harris, William Torrey. : : : ^"q 

Harrison. Burton (Airs) " 

Harrison, Carter Henry, jr' ' 
Harrison, Constance Qiry 
Harvey, George B. McCIelJan 

Hay, John 

Hays, Charles Melville:::: to^ 

^^"""'l' j;?-??^" Appersin (Mrs:) 592 

Hearst, William Randolph cL 

Hed.n, Sven Anders... .. ^H 

Herbert, Victor.... "■■ Jf] 

Herreshoff, John B...".;; ^^: 

Hewitt, Peter Cooper ij, 

H.ggins, Edward Everett..:;:;: 1^ 

H, , David Bennett ^^ 

Hill, James J.... " " cT r 

Hoar, William FrisbieV;;;:;; " 4qA 

Hobart, George V ^g 

Hobson Richmond Pearson;;;; 530 
Holland, John P.. ^r^ 

Holley, Marietta....'. ?«^ 

Holmes, E. Burton.. 
Holmes, Oliver Wendell 
Ho wells, William Dean 



582 
533 
526 
283 



598 



Hungerford, Herbert ...;;; ; ; ; ; ; 566 



Index — continued. 



Page 

I 

Ingalls, Melville Ezra 512 

Irving, Sir Henry Brodribb 560 

Irwin, May 562 

J 

Jackson, Leonora 552 

Jefferson, Joseph 560 

Jerome, William Travers 526 

Jewett, Sarah Orne 587 

Johnson, Tom L 234 

K 

Keller, Helen 39^ 

Kipling, Rudyard 583 

Klopsch, Louis 545 

Kneisel, Franz 552 

L 

Landon, Melvin DeLancey 575 

Landor, A. H. Savage 534 

Langtry, Lillie ( Mrs.) 563 

Le Gallienne, Richard 578 

Lenbach, Franz 569 

Lipton, Sir Thomas 108 

Lodge, Henry Cabot 499 

Lorimer, George Howard 542 

M 

McClure, Samuel Sidney 546 

McCracken, Henry Mitchell 539 

McKenna, Joseph 527 

Mackay, Robert 5j8 

Major, Charles 584 

Mansfield, Richard 379 

Marconi, William 515 

Markham, Edwin 263 

Marlowe, Julia 563 

Maxim, Hiram Stevens 35 

Mcnte. Charles 570 

Menzel.Adolf Frederick Erdmann 569 

Miles, Nelson A. (Gen.) 188 

Miller, Cincinnatus Heine (Joa- 
quin) 579 

Mills, Benjamin Fay 505 

Mills, Darius Ogden I77 



Page 

Mitchell, John 566 

Morgan, John Picrpont 519 

Munsey, Frank Andrew 546 

N 

Nansen, Fritdjof 534 

Nixon, Lewis 503 

Nordica,. Lillian 556 

o 

Ogden, Robert Curtis 516 

Olney, Richard 500 

Opper, Frederick Burr 3^2 

Outcault, R. F 572 

P 

Page, Thomas Nelson 584 

Parker, Alton Brooks 527 

Parkhurst, Cliarics Henry 590 

Patterson. John H 504 

Patti, Adelina 556 

Pearsons. Daniel Kimball 592 

Pearv, Robert Edwin 535 

Phillips. David G 576 

Piatt, Thomas Collyer 225 

Pope, Albert August 506 

Post, C. W 507 

Potter, Henry Codman (Mrs.).. 592 

Potter, Henry Codman (Rev.).. 595 

Powell. Maud 553 

Pulitzer, Joseph 547 

Q 

Qua}-, Matthew Stanley 523 

R 

Reid. Whitelaw 54^ 

Remington, Frederic 2>^7 

Riley, James Whitcomh 252 

Roberts. Chas. George Douglas.. 576 

Rockefeller. Jolm Davison 520 

Roosevelt, Theodore 173 

Roosevelt. Theodore (Mrs.).... 593 

Root. Elihu 500 

Ruckstuhl. F. Wellington 358 

599 



Index — continued. 



S 

Sage, Russell 125 

Sage, Russell (Mrs.) " ^593 

Sargent, John Singer ego 

Schley, Winfield Scott ' c^o 

Schultze, Carl E .' 572 

Schurman, Jacob Gould 24^ 

Schurz, Carl ;.'; ^^g 

Schwab, Charles Michael 71 

Sembrich, Marcella Stengel 557 

Seton, Ernest (Thompson-Setonj 567 

Shafter, William Rufus 531 

Shaw, Albert 543 

Shrady, Henry Merwin .' ' 366 

Siegel, Henry rj7 

Sothern, Edward H . 561 

Sousa, John Philip .' ^g,^ 

Stanford, Leland (Mrs.) 593 

Stanley, Henry Morton 535 

Stanton, Elizabeth Cady 591 

Stead, William Thomas 576 

Stephens, Alice Barber 321 

Stokes, Anson Phelps 593 

Stone, Ellen M 582 

Strauss, Najthan ' 420 

T 

Taylor. William ^96 

Thomas, Theodore 553 

Thompson-Seton. Ernest '.[ 567 

Thompson, Vance 567 



Vanderbilt, Cornelius t.q 

Van Dyke, Henry '■■■ J^ 

Vmcent, John Heyl "■■ rQg 

Vreeland, Herbert H '.'.] fsl 

W 

Walker, John Brisben.... ^.7 

Wallace, Lew (Gen.) ;'" 296 

Wanamaker, John 92 

Ward, Elizabeth Stuart Phelps."." ^87 
Watterson, Henry.... r,, 

Wellman, Walter rVr 

Westinghouse, George " oq 

Wheeler, John Wilson " ' " ^08 

Wheeler, Joseph ^,1 

White, Stewart Edward " " " ' qy-r 

Wilcox, Ella Wheeler. "■" 27^ 

Wilder, Marshall P " ,71 

Wilkins-Freeman, M. Eleanor.. 586 

Wilson, Woodrow c,n 

Wister. Owen i^^ 

Woolworth, Frank W 517 

Y 

Yerkes, Charles Tyson 520 

Z 

Zimmerman, Eugene 572 



Ooo 



JAN 21 1904 



